The Letter
by JelisseArmada
Summary: They were the sweetest couple in all of Fiore. Wherever Lucy was, was where Sting would go. But in the end, they separated. One day, Sting receives a letter from Lucy, and in the end he vows to make her fall in love with him all over again. Sticy. Rated M for content.
1. Chapter 1: The Letter

**Chapter One: The Letter**

Lucy carefully placed her quill back into its holder. Exhausted, she yawned and stretched like a cat in her armchair, feeling the exhaustion finally seep into her bones, and she knew that her body was telling her it was time for rest. Her thoughts had been consuming her lately, and she had felt like she had to find some way to express it or explode from the pressure of it all.

Her emotions had been toying with her lately. After her overwhelming loss of _him_… she didn't know what to think anymore. She had told herself countless times, that if she couldn't bear the hurt that came behind seeing his face, or the dull ache that came to her heart every time she saw something that reminded her of him, she would simply have to get over him.

No more excuses. She would have to stop being weak. Stop letting him back into her life. She knew he didn't understand her, and it wasn't his fault. She had fallen too deeply in love with him, and he hadn't done anything to encourage nor discourage her. She blamed herself for being too soft with everything, her emotions, her feelings, her instincts, everything. She had known it wasn't a good idea, falling into this pit with him. They had been, and always will be, incompatible, from the beginning to the end. It had never been a good idea to start the relationship, everyone had warned her, and the result had been proof enough.

She always knew love would hurt, but this relationship had brought her expectations down to a new low. He had unknowingly broken her heart into shards and tossed it into a hole. She no longer expected anything from men anymore. Whether she liked it or not, her heart had its own fortress now. She didn't have to hurt anymore. She had no interest in starting a new relationship whatsoever, unlike her previous self who would've gladly pursued a new man in the prospects of a new life. This relationship had changed her, for better or for worse.

All she wanted now was a balanced life, physically and mentally. She hadn't had that in awhile.

Remembering she had to deliver the precious words that she had spent the entire night drafting on to paper, she waved one of her keys and summoned Virgo to deliver the letter.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo."

The maiden appeared.

"At your service, mistress. What does princess require of me tonight?"

"Deliver this to the address written on the front of the envelope. It's not too far, only a few towns away. And don't alert the receiver. I don't want to disturb him."

It was only right that she didn't. After all, they had no relation anymore; she had no excuse to make any difference to his life, for worse or for better. She might only complicate things, and things had no reason to be complicated anymore. Not between them.

"Yes, mistress."

Virgo disappeared in a flash, bringing the letter with her to its supposed destination.

As she slipped her feet beneath her sheets, Lucy felt a newfound peace in her heart that had never been there.

She could no longer miss him anymore, and the piercing ache in her heart was gone, perhaps for good this time. She could only see what time had in store for her.

* * *

Sting hummed quietly to himself as he strolled outside to fetch the daily paper and whatever mail that came for him. It was early in the morning, and he had just woken up. His blonde hair was mussed and he was dressed in nothing but his black sweatpants and slippers on his feet. Rogue was out buying fish with the two tiny exceeds.

He shivered a little from the morning frost in the air. He had not expected it to be this cold, or he would've pulled a sweater over his head in the morning daze. Come to think of it, the sweater his previous girlfriend had gotten him would've fitted perfectly…

Emphasis on the word _previous _jolted his mind. Were they really no longer an item?

He had such a complicated past with her. They had fought countless of times, and lots of drama had happened, a lot of things had been broken in the fights as well. As to whether his heart was one of those things, he had been affected slightly, but he wasn't sure whether she had broken it. Honestly, he felt fine. As always. He would always be fine. Girls were never the main point of his life, and never would be.

But this girl had been unexpectedly proven him wrong.

He remembered the first time laying eyes on her at the Grand Magic Games, half a year ago. She had been the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. Her light blonde hair, long soft and silken, had so effortlessly framed her porcelain features, making her one of the most desired girls at the Games.

He remembered the faces of many men as she walked by, enraptured by her seemingly immortal beauty.

He remembered how shy she had been after the Games, even though her guild had won most magnificently. She had kept insisting she hadn't played much of a part in the grand win, even though she had appeared many times and fought most valiantly for her guild.

He remembered everyone remarking on her incredible strength and ability as a celestial spirit mage. Everyone had found her special, including him.

He had wondered, the moment he saw her, why was she so capturing to the mind? There was just something about her, the way she treated everyone, the way she smiled, like there was something hidden underneath. And _most_ of all, he remembered desperately wanting to find out what she hid under her pretty little smiles.

He had debated for a long time for this particular moment to go up and congratulate her on her win, just like all the other guilds. He didn't know what was holding him back. Admittedly, he was scared. And he was shy. He had never talked to a girl before, and certainly not such a girl like Lucy Heartfilia. In the end, he had waited so long that most of the bar celebrations had diminished. Nearly everyone was going home, and he should have too.

In the end, he finally got the guts to walk up to her. He remembered her sitting in a quiet corner by the bar, silently reading her book and sipping her lemonade. The glass was half full. He had wondered whether she had had any dinner, for he noticed no trace of any food scraps on the bar or a plate. Perhaps he could take her out to dinner? But it was late, and surely no restaurant was open at this time…

Suddenly she looked up at him, her large brown eyes penetrating his gaze. He stumbled a little and gulped. _Sting, what on earth were you thinking_, he chided himself for daring to come here in the first place.

"Do you want to say something? You've been standing there for quite a while now… Well even if you don't want to say something, you can always sit down." He remembered her teasing remark, and he recalled rather embarrassingly that that was the most he had ever blushed in one night.

He had eventually laughed at her comment and seated himself in one of the high chairs next to her. She smiled at him, obviously bemused at his antics, and his first words to her happened to be:

"Are you going to stay here all night?"

It had come out sounding almost rude, ill-intentioned even.

She had simply stared at him, slightly interested in why he was asking her such a question.

Quietly shifting her gaze from the novel to his piercing blue eyes, she replied him:

"So what if I am?"

"Because I've been sitting around all night, waiting for you to stop reading the book so I can congratulate you on your guild's win, but if you're going to sit here all night I thought maybe I should just wait for tomorrow."

She simply laughed, amused by his harried tone of speech. He obviously wanted to speak to her.

"And pray may I ask why did you wait all night sitting there if you just wanted to say a simple word of congratulations? wouldn't it have made more sense to just wait till the next day?"

Sting bit his tongue in response, he couldn't have said anything better himself.

"I, well, I… it's not safe for a girl to stay alone at a bar, do you have any idea what could happen to you?" he retorted, feeling annoyed that this seemingly harmless girl could have such a sharp tongue.

"Well it's certainly none of your business, Mr Sting Eucliffe. Why don't you hurry along back to your guild? They need you more than I do." She had replied, obviously annoyed now. Her words had cut his wit to the bone.

"I won't do that."

"Why not?"

"It's not safe."

"I have ten spirit keys with me if I need to defend myself."

"What if they take your keys?"

"I have a whip."

"What if they take your whip too?"

"Then I guess I'm defenceless." She had added, with a tone of incredulous sarcasm.

Sting had chuckled at that comment, causing the stilted tension between them to break.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I admit, I wanted to come and talk to you, but I didn't have the nerve. And then, I come here, and you somehow like arguing with me so I guess that happened." Sting explained, and he had felt a nervous grin creep onto his face despite the situation.

"The great White Dragon Slayer, Sting Eucliffe, wanting to talk to Lucy Heartfilia? Do you want people to see us getting along?" Lucy joked. She knew Sabertooth wasn't on very good terms with Fairy Tail, and of all the reasons she knew why.

"Well, let's pretend that we're just Sting and Lucy for tonight. No GMG and no rivalries. Just two people, stuck at a bar. How about that?" Sting had offered as a counter to her question. She had smiled at that, and they had eventually engaged in conversation.

They had talked, and talked, and talked.

Deep into the night, neither had realized what time it was. Until maybe 3am in the morning, when Sting had glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Shit, Rogue is going to kill me."

He had ran straight home, leaving her with nothing but a bemused smile on her face.

"Lucy Heartfilia, talking to you?" Rogue had suspiciously questioned his actions earlier as Sting explained why he was so late.

"Yeah, but she's really nice, and… have you ever noticed how brown her eyes are? They're like pools of melting chocolate…" Sting stared off dreamily into the distance.

Rogue had merely let out a chuckle at his best friend's weird act. Never had he seen Sting this way. What had the Heartfilia girl done to him?

'Just don't let master hear about it. Or Minerva."

And it had stayed that way… and also caused many fights to come. They'd sneaked around like mad people on the run. It was fun for awhile, but then it just became tiring and they both had stopped making effort to see each other, which was partly why it hadn't worked out.

Sting snapped out of his reminiscing. He almost looked around, half-hoping to see Lucy. _She's not here anymore_, he reminded himself. And for all the reasons he knew why…

He had chased Lucy out of his life. He remembered fighting, and he remembered Lucy tossing the anklet he'd given her at his face. "_Don't you ever speak to me again, Sting Eucliffe!"_ she had fumed, before storming out of his house, and eventually his life. They had never officially broken up; Lucy had ceased contact with him completely, and he could never bring up the painful past enough to bother writing to her.

_It never would've worked out anyway,_ he constantly reminded himself. They were as incompatible as they were inseparable last time. They constantly fought over the most stupid things.

_Alright, enough wallowing in the past. She hasn't bothered trying to talk to you, so you should take a sign that she's probably never going to want to have anything to do with you, _Sting thought to himself glumly.

He grabbed the mail and skittered inside the house quickly as it was chilly, and he was by all means shirtless.

He tossed the newspaper on the dining table; no doubt Rogue would want to read it later when he got back from the fish market with Frosch.

He seated himself comfortably on his couch, feet perched atop his delicately carved sandalwood coffee table. He had gotten it as a gift from one of his missions, and he didn't want to admit it but he loved that table to bits. The table was bare, except for a plain red rug covering it. That rug had been an intended gift for Lucy, but then they had broken up… and got back together… and broken up again. So he had eventually satisfied himself by giving it to himself instead.

He sorted through the mail.

_Fan mail… _check.

_A thank you note from some villagers… _check.

_Fan mail for Rogue…_ he smirked to himself. Rogue was so intimidating; usually people were too scared to send him fan mail. This was fairly new.

His eyes lingered on a white envelope. He recognized the writing immediately and his eyes widened.

**142, General Street,**

**Valley of Gerona,**

**42629 Crocus,**

**Fiore.**

That was his address, no doubt. Only one person knew his address.

Lucy.

But why...?

* * *

**Alright! The first chapter is up! **

**What has Lucy written in her letter? What happens when Sting reads the letter? Why is Sting so irresistible? (chuckles and pulls his cheeks)**

Sting: Ow! Its not my fault i'm irresistable. *pouts*

Jelisse: hehehehe. *pinches Sting some more*

Sting: kyaaaaaa~ *runs away*

Jelisse: *pouts* damn.

**Anyways.**

**Answers coming up soon, in the next chapter. ;)**

**Leave your thoughts in the review column below. :) your thoughts are very much appreciated.**

**Jelisse**


	2. Chapter 2: The Note

**Replies to Reviews of Chapter One:**

**Write-A-Rainbow: Thank you! You were my first reviewer and I simply adored your review :3 well here's the next chapter for you! hope you enjoy it :) please tell me what you thought of it!**

**SimplyIsabelleS****:**** well I'm a person who enjoys good English in my reading ;) here's the second chappie, really hope you enjoy it :) I'd appreciate more feedback from you, it was such a straightforward opinion :)**

**alycat63: Here's the letter! heehee. Hope you enjoy it! I'd appreciate your feedback on it :) Thanks for the review as well 3**

**Here's a thank you to everyone who followed and favourited:**

**Follows: AnimeLuver778, Articallie, FairyTailWolf6, Gray to Black, JustGoCrazy, Lovely Buddy, SimplyIsabelleS, Write-A-Rainbow, Yami Hinata, Yuiina, alycat63, nalu-greylu-stinglu, nelly99, panda0312, purple-stained-sky.**

**Favourites: AnimeLuver778, Lovely Buddy, SimplyIsabelleS, Skylar1flare, ****nalu-greylu-stinglu, ****nelly99, panda0312**

******MAY YOUR SUPPORT BE EVERLASTING 3 KEEP IT COMING!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Note**

Sting felt his fingers shaking as he tore open the envelope. A normal looking piece of note paper fell out as he shook the envelope slightly. The type of paper people used when they wanted to draft things, similar to the paper Lucy used to draft her novels before recopying it in her books.

He distinctly smelled peaches and cinnamon off of the paper; Lucy's favourite breakfast had been cinnamon pancakes with fresh peaches. Had she written this in the morning yesterday? His body shook a little as he imagined Lucy's pale slender fingers, gently scribbling across the paper. He missed those fingers that used to wrap around his, the fingers that used to tell him everything was going to be alright.

He flicked open the piece of paper and began to read.

* * *

_Dear Sting,_

_Till today, I still have so many questions about our relationship. How many times had you lied to me? I wonder about this one quite a lot._

_I miss you, but I will never admit it, right up till the day I die. There are times I wish we are still together; times I brush away with petty annoyance that it might get in the way of how my life is now. I like how my life is now. It's a clear blue sky, with no hints of storm clouds or a bright sun. Neither too hot nor too cold, certainly with no hints of disaster. But you can't have the good without the bad, and as I love that truth too much to hate the fact that since I've left no room in my life for thunderstorms, I've pushed away any chance of a rainbow happening either. In all my inner debates and questionings whether this is the correct choice, I no longer believe it is solely my choice to make anymore. It is for the best that I chose not to have any thunderstorms or rainbows in my life._

_In my mind, we were the worst couple to ever walk the lands of Fiore. You were a complete arse in my opinion _(Sting snorts at this)_, and I was a new boyfriend's nightmare come to life. _("Well, at least she has some idea of what I had to go through just to be with her…" muttered Sting grudgingly.)_ Stubborn, over-expectant of you, prone to arguments like a moth drawn to flame, I apologise for how I treated you. I'm sorely anguished, truly sorry that we didn't work out. As I don't entirely believe that I've learnt right from wrong in the experience of our relationship, I have forbidden myself from consummating with anyone new till I am absolutely sure I will not become the horror that you witnessed in your first romantic relationship. _(Sting reacts with peals of laughter at this, sorely thinking that she was joking, and then stopping in realization that she was serious.)_ I wish you had been with someone else, someone who could've made it last for you. But then again, first love is something that isn't meant to last. It lingers in the back of your mind forever. It changes your perspective of things. In short, it changes you. Once you have loved, you are another person entirely. The love that you have for anything or anyone will increase tenfold and become the centre of your world. It stays that way till your dying day. With all my heart, I hope that you have realised that. _("No shit, who does she think she's kidding." muttered Sting as he continued perusing the contents of the extremely long letter.)

_You are a good person; I don't doubt that at all. I just never got to see you showcase your goodness for very long; we were always at each others throats, and I don't blame you entirely for that. I don't regret anything in this relationship, except that I could have been a better person at times, but everything we did was reflected off of each other, so you couldn't have done anything about it as much as I could've done._

_Right now, I have accepted that it was simply not meant to be. I loved you with all my heart and soul ever since the day that I laid eyes on you, and as sad to think that our beautiful blossoming relationship has withered into this, I am not sorry. It wasn't meant to be. Maybe someday, God will give us the chance to replant the blooms once more, and we could somehow fall in love all over again. Then we could relive what was once ours. _

_You know you have moved on when you are more in love with the memories than the person standing in front of you, they say. I guess it's safe to say that I love the memories we made together more than anything else in the world, but you have fallen off my priority list. You're on the waiting list, along with everything else that's rarely important nowadays. It's been too long, and if things were to have been a way other than this, it would've happened already. I hope you have accepted that, because it would be better for the both of us that way. Sincerely, I do hope that we get the chance to regain our friendship, as that was something I greatly cherished before we got together. _

_The year is ending, but I finally feel like I have a new beginning. Take good care of yourself. Maybe my new beginning includes you, but I don't have my hopes up. Whatever is for the best will turn out eventually. Goodbye. _

_Lucy_

PS: if you receive this, it is 2.31am in the morning, Saturday, and I just felt like I had to write this letter otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep. God has guided my hand in writing this letter, and I hope you agree with him as much as I do with the way he decided to write out our lives. I earnestly feel that he really did the best he could. I will always hold you in a special place in my life. I loved you, and now I am not in love with you anymore.

* * *

Sting whimpered. He didn't know why, but these papers made him want to curl up in a ball and cry his heart out. It felt like Lucy had sent him a sickening blow to his stomach instead of a few mere pieces of paper. What he had just read was making him nauseous. And he wasn't even on transport. Maybe it was because he felt like his world was spinning around, and he was having trouble finding something to keep him tethered firmly to the ground.

Lucy's letter, in short, was a finalised break. The final piece to the puzzle. The checkmate to their chess game.

The hurt that had come in waves was the pain of his heart severing all ties with Lucy Heartfilia. She no longer mattered to him, and their relations no longer wavered in the air above him, leaving him free to linger. They had swooped down and hit him on the head and heart, hard.

He felt like his heart was being tossed into a paper shredder. _Is this what heartbreak feels like? _He wondered to himself painfully. The pain in his chest was growing. It felt like someone was squeezing on his heart, tightly, refusing to let go and grant him his relief. He gasped at the amount of heartache that was swelling inside of him.

And then the tears came. Not like how a baby would cry, Sting just sat there on the floor, gulping down his dignity as a teardrop began to trail down his cheek, just a few followed. He silently thanked God that Rogue wasn't around to see this.

He finally understood why some people say letting go is so painful sometimes. It hurt to think of Lucy all over again, to relive every single moment they'd had together, for the sake of a clean break. Go through it now, so he didn't have to go through it ever again. As much as it made sense, it didn't make the process any less painful.

Sting sniffled a little. For a moment there, he wanted to run to Magnolia and scoop Lucy off her feet and run away with her, away from their troubled pasts and into a new world, where their guilds didn't matter and where they would be a little more mature and not argue too much, and be together forever. Somewhere where they could both be happy.

And then the process was over. It dawned on him that this process had already occurred to Lucy, which was what must've made her write this letter. He wondered whether he should reply her. And he realised it was a letter of closure, not meant to be replied. Replying would be a huge mistake. Besides, what could he write?

_Dear Lucy, I'm doing great, hope you're doing fine. I heard how you decided to impose a no-man prison on yourself because of me, thanks for soothing my ears completely with that. _

_Dear Lucy, yeah, I know, I should go to hell. For your information, you shouldn't stick around much longer either. We're equal now, remember?_

_Dear Lucy, I hate you too. All the best in your future. Buh-bye for now! Till we meet again, and maybe we could try doing this all over again if you're willing to._

Sting snorted to himself as all the various mischievous replies he could possibly summon up appeared in his mind, one by one. He dragged himself off the carpet and up to the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee.

He returned to his cheerful self as he figured; the letter was probably for the best. Now they would both be fine, and he didn't have to worry about hurting her feelings in the future should they meet again. They had closure now.

Should he try to find a new girlfriend? He wondered. _No, not for now_, he decided. Lucy had been an example enough of what would happen if he got a girlfriend now. He simply wasn't mature enough to handle a woman yet.

But maybe, if he finds love again…

_Maybe someday, God will give us the chance to replant the blooms once more, and we could somehow fall in love all over again. Then we could relive what was once ours. _

Lucy's words echoed in his mind, and he felt a small surge of wrongly directed hope for her. Maybe they could relive the past one day?

_No, you can't do that, not anymore,_ a small truthful part of him stated. That was the part of him that kept him sane, so he decided to listen to it. As painful as it was, it was the truth, something we all had to stick to or otherwise go insane, and Sting was none the wiser.

It was over, for real this time.

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN.**

**So, it's over for good this time… what do Lucy and Sting do with their new lives? What are the new prospects ahead of them?**

**Coming soon, in chapter 3 :)**

**Tell me what you guys think of the letter! Did you guys feel the emotion Lucy put into it? I spent days of agonizing moments writing it… so I believe I deserve some of your opinions :3 Hehehehe.**

**And does Sting crying make you cry? It sure made me cry :'(**

**Till the next chapter! Don't forget to review! I need your thoughts on the letter!**

**Jelisse**


	3. Chapter 3: The Aftermath

**Review Replies for Chapter Two**

**MissAMira****: thank you for that suggestion, but he isn't the Sabertooth master, not for now :) because if he was the Sabertooth master it would be illogical to assume that people in his guild were stopping him and Lucy from being together as nobody should oppose their master :) but i like that suggestion, and if you have any other ideas please let me know :)**

**Write-A-Rainbow:**** thanks for the second review, your support is appreciated. well to me it was the hardest chapter to write. not many people know what heartbreak feels like, and i tried my best to convey the message. :) im very happy you liked it. and yeah, Sting sad made me sad too :'( anyway thanks again for the long review, dont apologise, im happy to have more feedback :D**

**jojo: err well buenos gracias. :) im sorry my spanish is incoherent. and if it turns out you arent speaking spanish, IM SORRY D: **

**SimplyIsabelleS:**** i find that quite alright hehe. :) thank you, i try my best to proofread as much as i can, because as a writer i really really hate bad grammar, its just really unprofessional and hard to enjoy reading, even if the story's good :( well i try to update as fast as i can :)**

**Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and most importantly, reviewed! The story wouldnt survive without you!**

**Favourites: AnimeLover1217, GingerLily01, alyshanguyen2002011, meli-kun**

**Follows: littlecrazyweirdo, laww, alyshanguyen2002011, GingerLily01, AnimeLover1217**

**PS: sorry if i didnt credit you, FanFic isnt showing me the entire list of everything for some mean reason -.-**

**Enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Aftermath**

A delicious smell was wafting through Lucy's house. She had taken to her newfound free time to learn a few cooking skills from Mirajane, and the effort had not been wasted. She felt like a maestro in her own kitchen now, whipping up delicious meals like it was nothing.

She was preparing dinner for herself and she had summoned Plue to accompany her. The sweet little dog stood in a corner, watching her bustle around the kitchen cooking. She couldn't believe how fun this actually was.

She hummed a tune as she mashed the potatoes in a bowl. She was preparing a western style dinner of country fried chicken, seasoned mashed potatoes and a side of Caesar salad, complimented with a jug of mint lime mohitos that she had convinced Cana to teach her how to make.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so stress free. Her life was seemingly in balance for the time being, with her rent being dealt for already so she could relax for the rest of the month. Natsu and Gray were off on some weird mission to find a fire-breathing lizard that could strangely freeze things as well, on their own accords, and Erza was due to stop by her apartment in half an hour with Levy and Cana for some girl time. So nobody could disturb her peace for now.

She found her mind wandering to how Happy was, staying with Wendy while Natsu was away lizard-hunting. And her mind wandered inexplicably to Frosch and Lector, which inexplicably lead to-

Sting Eucliffe.

She wondered how he had been. She remembered sending him a letter of closure, something he had not bothered to reply. Her thoughts hardly came across him anymore these days, she was either too preoccupied with filling up her free time productively or she was on a mission. She wasn't really bothered with him anymore. For all she knew, he could be plotting against her guild at that very minute.

_No_, she bit her lip. She knew Sting wasn't that type of person.

The oven dinged to signal her mashed potato was ready, and the thought of Sting left her head completely.

* * *

"Lucy, this food is amazing. How on earth did you learn to cook like this?" Levy exclaimed, mash potato filling her mouth. Erza and Cana nodded in agreement, their mouths too full to say anything.

Lucy just blushed and said, "Oh, its nothing much Mira can't teach you. You should ask her to teach you sometime, she's really sweet."

"And you must be a very good student in that case." Smiled Erza at Lucy. She had finished the last of her chicken.

"And these mohitos are de-lish!" drawled Cana as she drained the entire jug. Lucy just laughed and went to the kitchen to prepare another. She knew soon enough Cana would be drunk silly and she would have to let Cana sleep over. Not that she minded, of course. Cana was like a crazy, perverted elder sister she never had.

The girls had moved from the dining table to the living room, where they lounged on the multicoloured beanbags Lucy had in her living room instead of a couch. She figured it was more fun this way. And sleeping on beanbags beat sleeping on a couch any day. At least, that was what Cana had said to her.

"So, Lu-chan… have you found any guys in your life yet?" Levy gushed excitedly to Lucy.

Lucy just rolled her eyes and answered, "No. I don't want a boyfriend. Nobody's really caught my eye."

"I know you have Gajeel, and I know Erza has Jellal, but i really just... I haven't found the right guy." _There was Sting, and we know how that went,_ Lucy thought, her heart saddening at the thought momentarily.

"Well, Laxus is mine, for the record. I've been riding that train for awhile now, and it's been a fun ride." Cana breathily informed all of them and winked at the last part, and the girls bawled their eyes out in laughter.

"Seriously, Lucy, you need a man in your life. You're nearly 20, and beauty doesn't last with age. No offence, Luce. You're still the prettiest girl in the guild." Erza forewarned her while eating her strawberry cake that she had brought along for dessert.

Of all the girls, only Cana knew about Sting, and she hadn't asked about him at all, in secret or in public. So Lucy just assumed she had let the questions go.

Once everyone had left, Cana lingered behind the door before asking a few questions, concerned about her blonde friend.

"Have you talked to Sting lately?"

Lucy bit her lip before answering. "I sent him a letter. He never replied."

Cana's eyebrows creased in worry. "And you're alright with that?"

Lucy merely shrugged and pretended it didn't matter. "Its not like I have some kind of claim to him anymore. The guy's free to do what he wants."

Cana noticed the sadness in Lucy's eyes as she said that.

"Look, Luce, I know you're trying to be strong and everything, but maybe you should talk to him and see what happens then. A letter isn't very... confirming. Besides, he was your first wasn't he? And from what I've seen, he loved you a lot. Maybe..."

"No, Cana. Its over already. I don't want to see him." Lucy wondered whether she was just lying to herself. Once in a while, she half-wished she could see him again. She always pushed the longing away, as she figured it was probably remnants of her heart trying to trick her into tripping down her path again.

Cana observed her face, smiled, then pulled her in for a hug before she left.

"I know, Luce. But sometimes weakness is what we need in order to see what we really crave in life."

"I don't love him anymore." The words came out harsh, but a part of her was certain. Her life had no room for Sting.

"Okay, Luce. I just... You were really happy with him, you know?"

Lucy simply brushed the comment off, believing that when a man came that she would love more than she had loved Sting, she would gladly marry him.

* * *

After having her breakfast (chocolate drizzled pancakes with vanilla sliced strawberries), Lucy went down to the guild to look for a job. Just a minor one would do, she needed money for a new dress as the annual Magnolia Ball was coming and she wanted to have a great night, not to mention look great as well, and she didn't want to spend her savings on a dress. She had a belief that for leisure things such as this, she would have to earn them.

After much consideration, she finally picked a job. Two, actually. They'd both looked promising and fuss-free, and they both looked too good to be true. One was to prune a monster rose garden for a fee of 10000 jewels, and she had no doubt that Cancer could finish that job soon enough.

The other job was a team up with another guild, thankfully not Sabertooth though, Lucy had checked before accepting. It was a team-up for a manhunt of a wanted criminal, who was wanted for stealing a bunch of jewels from a museum in Magnolia. How hard could it be? She would ask Plue to track the man's scent, for he was a dog after all, and Aquarius and Loke could easily help her beat the guy up. All for a great pay of 100000 jewels, and she needed her rent money.

She strolled out of the guild, humming a cheerful song to herself. She felt so on track in her life. For once, she had proper things to do, instead of fooling around.

Her rosebush mission started tomorrow, so she'd best get home to get some rest and pack her things for the next day, and summon Cancer to brief him on the mission so he knew what he was getting into.

Along the way, she bumped into Gray.

"Oh, Gray! Back from the lizard hunt already?" she mischievously teased him. They had always had a spark when it came to their friendship. She had missed his company, even if it meant he was half naked a lot. It was better than Natsu, who just burned down everything he touched. At least Gray didn't get kicked out of a restaurant too much.

'Ah, turns out it was a sham. Oh well." Gray shrugged. He peered over Lucy's shoulder and saw her rosebush mission slip.

"Hey, you're going to Hargeon for a mission? Let me come with you. I've heard there have been a lot of robberies and heists going on at night lately, and its best if I come so you don't get hurt." Gray proudly offered himself as a prize for the mission, and Lucy couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculously cute he sounded.

"Alright, alright, let's go then. I'll see you tomorrow at the train station, 9am sharp. Don't be late or I'll have to go without you." She waggled her tongue at Gray and he laughed, ruffling her hair.

"Bye Luce."

"Goodbye Gray." She waved at him as she entered her apartment.

Natsu was sitting on her bed, grinning up at her. Happy was flying around the house, obviously missing the air of the house with people around.

"Lucy!" Natsu crushed her in a hug, and she hugged him back. She had missed her best friend while he was gone. Even though he burned down entire buildings in missions and tried to spontaneously combust on everything on a daily basis, she couldn't help but appreciate his return. There was only one Natsu in this world. (Thank God for that too.)

"What's that?" he peered over at the rosebush mission. "Ew, roses. I hate flowers. I hope you don't mind if I don't come on this one, Luce." She silently was thankful that Natsu didn't want to come to Hargeon with her. She didn't think she could handle Gray and Natsu together, not if Erza wasn't coming along.

"Sure Natsu." She squeezed his arm in affection. She glanced at the clock, and she was aware that if Natsu was around she had better start cooking…

* * *

Lucy crawled into bed, slightly exhausted from entertaining Natsu and Happy. She loved her friends, but sometimes Natsu was a little overboard. He'd been whining because he wanted to set the satellite dish on her roof on fire so that everyone would know he was back in Magnolia. She'd had to practically drag him off the roof with the help of Happy and find something else to keep him occupied.

Dinner had been great, as usual since Mira had become her cooking coach. She had prepared an Indian style chicken curry, especially since she knew he liked curries.

As she had watched Natsu fall asleep on her beanbags, it struck her (after a long time) again how much Natsu and Sting were alike. Sting had absolutely loved her beanbags to the point where he'd accidentally shredded a few. (It's a dragon slayer habit.) Natsu came over nearly every night just to snooze on her beanbags.

Natsu was her best friend, and Sting had been special to her as well…

But the thing is, Natsu was still around, while she couldn't remember the last time she spoke to Sting.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, or that she avoided him. There was just no purpose in it. No point going back to being friends if you're gonna argue now, is there?

She racked her brains to find the last time they spoke, face to face. And then she remembered.

Sting had called her a selfish bitch who didn't care about others and that had been the last straw for her. She distinctly remembered tugging off the anklet he'd given her for their two monthsversary. She'd tossed it at his face, and yelled that he should never speak to her ever again. She remembered the hurt look, evident on his face after she yelled at him. She'd been furious, and she had stormed out of his life in the heat of the moment. She had never come back, and he had never come looking for her in Magnolia.

Had she really acted so recklessly?

Lucy wondered whether she owed Sting an apology to his face. She felt like checking in on him, as a friend, to see how he was doing. And she sort of missed Rogue's company a little bit. It was mostly Sting she wanted to see though. A small part of her nagged that it was a bad idea to be even thinking about this, but she ignored it.

She decided that night, before she fell asleep, that after the Hargeon mission she would stop by Crocus and pay her ex-boyfriend a visit. She'd evidently forgotten that Gray was coming along and wouldn't react very nicely to a sudden urge to want to visit the White Dragon Slayer of Sabertooth. Of course, that was what Gray knew him as only. Only Lucy had known a complete other side of him.

After all, it was just Sting. Just a friendly visit wouldn't hurt, would it? Just to catch up on things again. She wanted to know how he was doing, whether his life was going as well as her's. She wondered how Lector was. She wondered whether Sting had a new girlfriend… she shook her head, wondering why the thought made her so uncomfortable. No, it wouldn't do to be uncomfortable at something like this.

She tugged on her blanket so it covered her head. She would not let something as small as this get in the way of her positive thoughts these days. She was having the time of her life without Sting. And it was going to stay that way, regardless of whether he had someone new or not.

Little did she know what was in store for her in the next few days.

* * *

**So? What do you guys think? Sorry there's nothing much in this chap, Lucy needed to pipe down a little. **

**Chapter 4 is nearly done ;) fingers crossed guys! **

**some hints of what to expect in the next chapter:**

**Sting shows up! a bamboozled Gray! aaaaand~**

**a surprise goes kaboom ;)**

**what will happen next?**

**stay tuned! **

**and keep reviewing. i love all of you. :)**

**Jelisse**


	4. Chapter 4: The Reality

**Replies to Chapter 3 reviews!**

Write-A-Rainbow: I LOVE COUNTRY FRIED CHICKEN HEHE. And well yes something is going to happen keep reading hohohoho *evil laugh* i appreciate the constant reviews! :)

MissAMira: well, who wouldnt be jealous? ;) its lucy heartfilia hehe. keep reading and you'll find what you asked for. he's super protective. thank you for the suggestion and review! :)

ButterBellyBoy: thanks for the honest opinion, i enjoy reading your criticisism as it's quite well-issued and well constructed, you know what you're talking about :) i will try to fix that in the future chapters. may i have your opinion about this chapter as well? :)

jojo: oh! you're speaking french! bless you :) um well you'll just have to keep reading hehehehe :) merci~

SimplyIsabelleS: well you'll just have to keep reading and see what happens hohoho *claps hands retardedly* thank you again for the review!

Studiousgirl: hello there :) well i guess i chose the wrong category huh hahaha well dont be too dissapointed, i will try my best to inject humour into all the crooks in the story. the main focus is still Lucy and Sting's romance though hehehe sorry :B

New **Favourites**: Fall3nSt4rr567, Jaz-147

New **Follows**: AngelXReaper, Fall3nSt4rr567, Fluffy Blade, Jaz-147, Kitsuri Mizuka (is that your real name? its pretty),MarzSpy, abc123pie

**Here's the next chappie~**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Reality**

"You said… what?" asked Rogue as he stared at Sting incredulously. He was wide-eyed, his mouth hanging slightly open.

Sting was doubled over laughing. Oh, he had gotten Rogue good.

"Okay, so I just said I might be dating her. Don't you know what the word _might _means, Rogue? Besides, it's just a stupid reporter, what's the big deal? Jesus Rogue, you should've seen the look on your face…" his words trailed off as he started laughing again.

"It's not a laughing matter Sting. This is going to come out in a gossip magazine, no doubt about that. You don't even like her. And Master Jiemma is going to see this, or hear about it. You know very well we aren't on good terms with Fairy Tail, not since the Grand Magic Games. He won't approve."

"Oh relax Rogue, don't get your tail in a twitch already. It's _just_ a girl from Fairy Tail. I didn't even confirm anything. I just said there might be something between us, to give that annoying reporter guy some bait," Sting sighed and plopped himself down on the couch. "You know how annoying they can be. And we can't even blast them because then we'd have the council pegging after us…" Sting rolled his eyes. He had no love for the local paparazzi.

"The white haired takeover mage is the demon girl's sister. She might just come after you…" Rogue sighed. Sting could be such an idiot sometimes. He felt like he was an older brother to Sting sometimes, even though they were exactly the same age.

He tried a different tactic to shut Sting up. "You realise that Lucy is going to read about this too, right?" Rogue pointed out sharply. Sting stopped laughing.

Uh-oh.

Lucy was going to read about it. Right… what had he just done? He didn't want Lucy to think that he was chasing after girls in her own guild. He definitely wasn't a player. He shouldn't disrupt her like that. She had a right to a peaceful life without his presence, whether in her mind or in front of her.

What was he going to do? He had to fix this.

And not to mention, he had accidentally told the reporter that he had broken up with Lucy awhile ago.

Double uh-oh.

Sting jumped off the couch and ran to the door like the hounds of hell were after him, stopping only to grab his black sweater. It was his only sweater, besides the one Lucy had given him. It fitted him well. He grabbed some necessities and threw them into a bag, and he yelled at Rogue who was in the kitchen:

"I'm going to chase that reporter guy! His main office is in Hargeon. Maybe I can stop him from printing the piece. I'll be back in a day or two. Tell master I'm away on a mission!" he certainly wasn't going to let Jiemma know that he was away for something as petty as this. Still… he didn't want people to think wrongly of him. It wasn't his fault reporters were always chasing him, he pouted as he ran to the train station.

Rogue just chuckled to himself and sighed, picking at his lunch for the day. Sting sure was a handful. He knew the only reason Sting was bothered to stop the gossip reporter was because he didn't want to hurt Lucy's feelings.

Whether Sting still liked the girl was a complete mystery to him, because Sting never talked about it, and Rogue felt it was beneath his dignity as a Shadow Dragon Slayer to bring up these kinds of petty issues. He could tell that Sting would sometimes float away in thoughts of her though. He had never fallen in love before, so he didn't know how to help Sting. He felt assured that Sting would get back on track soon. It was just a matter of time. Nothing ever affected Sting, mentally or physically. Or so he thought.

* * *

Gray was standing at the Hargeon train station with Lucy at his side. So far nobody had assumed they were a couple yet. He figured that was a good sign. He seriously didn't know what to think when people thought Lucy was his girlfriend. Usually Lucy would just lose her head and start yelling and getting all fidgety. He would just stand at the side and laugh at her antics. He secretly thought it was kind of cute sometimes.

Cute? Whats wrong with me today? wondered Gray oddly. It must've been the long ride in the train.

"Do you want to get lunch? I know a good place nearby." Lucy's words jolted him back to reality.

Gray shrugged indifferently, looking more casual than he felt. "Sure." He picked up her bag for her, and they left off to a nearby diner for lunch. Gray held the door open for her, and they walked into the old building.

The diner had an old school air, with classic rock posters and objects hanging on the walls. It had brick red walls, and the usual black marbled dividers. Gray found himself liking it here. There was already a large group of people inside, as it was lunch hour. Lucy dragged him over to an empty booth, and he dropped the bags and seated himself opposite her.

"Lucy!" a fragile looking old man came out to greet her. He wore an apron, and he was clearly the owner of this place. Gray glanced up in surprise.

"Daniel!" Lucy pulled the old man into a hug. He had a cute little face, rather like cartoon, and he had a cheery smile. His apron was stained with barbecue sauce, but that didn't stop Lucy from hugging him. He smelled like a freshly stoked barbecue, and Gray found himself wondering whether he got chased by hungry stray dogs on a daily basis because of how strong the barbecue scent was.

"Gray, this is Daniel; he used to be a chef in my old mansion. He used to cook all my favourite foods to cheer me up. The last I heard was that he opened this great diner in Hargeon." Gray nodded at the old man. Lucy sure knew a lot of people.

"Lucy was like a daughter to me. I know all her favourite foods. Please, do order the barbecued pork ribs and cheese-baked potatoes. They're the house specialties, and I will prepare them personally for you both. Are you her boyfriend?"

Looks like his luck had run out, Gray thought sarcastically. He turned to Lucy and waited for her to do her usual explaining.

Before Lucy could look all frantic and flustered, a short stubby man with a mop of green hair who looked like a reporter with a pen and notepad in his hand interrupted all of them.

"Excuse me, did you say you were Lucy Heartfilia's boyfriend?" he asked, quite undisturbed by the fact that Gray was glaring daggers at him.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Gray retorted rather rudely. He was tired and hungry, and he just wanted to have a peaceful meal for awhile, not to mention he hated reporters. Trust his luck to run out the moment he thanked his stars.

"Roy Huffle, official reporter for the gossip column of Sorcerer's Weekly. Now tell me, how long have you two been dating? Did you two meet after you broke up with Sting Eucliffe, or did you always have a thing for Gray?" the reporter turned to Lucy, who had paled considerably at his last sentence.

"Sting… how did you…" Lucy mumbled. Shit. And the worst part was, Gray was standing there with a confused expression. (Daniel the old chef had long since disappeared to prepare their meal, thankfully.)

Gray peered at the short man suspiciously. What kind of surname was Huffle? And why was he spouting bull crap? Lucy had never gone out with Sting.

Right?

"Sting? Lucy, please tell me this guy is nuts. You didn't go out with Sting." Gray was confirming with her hurriedly. Lucy gulped. Gray's expression changed from a mask of confusion to one of a dumbfounded person.

"Um… about that." Lucy stared at the floor, wishing it would swallow her up. That was the main reason she had kept her relationship with Sting a secret. If she risked someone Natsu or Gray finding out, it could start a war between the two guilds. Stupid Sting! He must've told this dumb reporter.

"Didn't… tell… Gray… about… her past… relationships…" the reporter was scribbling pieces of information in his notepad. Gray looked at him, exasperated.

"Do you mind?!" Gray yelled. He was confounded. And why was he so mad? It wasn't like he liked Lucy or anything… he just felt uncomfortable that she never told him. Right?

_Then why is your heart feeling like this?_ A snide voice inside him asked. He felt even more confused but he shoved it to the side for now.

"Okay, good day to you both. I have enough information for my next piece, hurray!" the man danced out of the diner, but not before Gray socked him a good one in the face. He fell to the ground.

People stared, but Gray didn't care. It was enough he was trying to process this information, and this reporter had to go and make things up about him and Lucy. She would never be his girlfriend, and this stupid reporter would _not_ be printing fake information, not if he had anything to do with it.

Lucy sat down at the booth, obviously at a loss for words. She didn't know what to tell Gray.

Gray sat down too, with nothing more to say. Daniel came with the food, cheerily wished them a good meal and left. He started eating. Lucy just stared at him.

"Gray… I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Lucy mumbled.

"But if it helps… we stopped dating awhile ago. So you don't have to worry about anything."

Gray just shrugged it off, looking less bothered than he felt. Fighting with Lucy would be pointless, and it wasn't like he had a right to barge into her personal life like that anyway.

"It's okay, as long as you're fine now. We didn't come here to gossip anyway. We came here to chop some bushes. How about we go and get it done after this? You can take all the pay, I don't need it. I just came to make sure you were okay."

"Thanks Gray. And uh, if you could… don't mention this to anyone either okay. I don't need people knowing."

"Sure thing, don't worry. You should really start eating; your food's getting cold..."

Gray looked seemingly indifferent to the situation. What Lucy didn't know was that his heart was pounding erratically. Why was he so flustered?

Lucy nodded as she picked up her fork. She smiled warmly at Gray, who didn't notice as he was too busy eating. She felt happy that she could count on Gray. He was like the brother he never had.

The question now was, did Gray only think of her as a sister?

* * *

Sting stumbled off the train onto the Hargeon platform, nearly tripping over his own feet with all the stars twinkling in front of him in his daze. He was so dizzy he didn't notice a stray pipe sticking out in front of him on the ground; therefore he tripped and fell onto the floor. He groaned. If motion sickness was a person, he or she would _so_ be dead in a gutter right now... thought Sting, fazed.

He stood up and brushed himself off, feeling a bit better. His stomach rumbled. He had completely forgotten to pack a lunch for himself. Now, to find some food and that douche of a reporter…

He found a diner near the station, and he pushed open the door to surprisingly find his desired reporter sprawled on the floor, knocked out on the floor. Sting marvelled at his good fortune. Now he could kill time and eat already.

He shook the reporter awake. The reporter opened his eyes, and when he saw Sting, his face turned a pale shade of green. He hadn't exactly parted with Sting amicably when he first hounded him for gossip on his love life. Was Sting here to tell him more? He wondered curiously.

Sting shoved him into a booth. "Sit." He snarled. The reporter obeyed him, terrified. Hm, maybe not.

"Listen to me. I am not dating Lisanna Strauss, do you hear me? So I do _not_ expect to read about it in the next issue of your stupid magazine. If I do…" Sting cracked his knuckles threateningly.

The reporter nearly wet his pants trying to get Sting not to kill him. Sting casually flicked his fingers, annoyed.

"Get out of my sight."

The reporter ran for his life, clearly terrified.

Sting just chuckled and signalled for the waiter to bring the menu.

* * *

Lucy perked up her ears. Was that… Sting's voice? No. her brain must be messing with her. Sting's guild was all the way in Crocus, why would he be here… and why did she even care, for that matter? If Sting was around, it wasn't any of her business anyway.

_Not anymore_, a cold voice inside her head reminded her.

She looked at Gray, who was sipping his milkshake. He didn't look like he had noticed anything, or he would've started a brawl with Sting. She stared down at her lap. She wondered whether she would bump into Sting in Hargeon. He did come here for missions occasionally…._Stop hoping on nothing,_ _you stubborn girl._ _He's not thinking of you, so stop thinking of him. Focus on your mission, _her head told her sensibly. She sighed. The voice was more sensible than her, at least at that moment.

"I am not dating Lisanna Strauss, do you hear me?" she heard a familiar voice snarl.

She paused, her face draining of its colour.

_Sting?_

She felt her heart contract painfully as she absorbed the meaning of that sentence. Why would he be dating…? _Lisanna_, of all people? Was he playing around with her? She knew Sting had been a womanizer before meeting her, but she was sure he'd changed for the better after meeting her… _Maybe he's reverted back to his old ways, _the cold voice teased at her thoughts most cruelly._ But still…_ she thought angrily. Lisanna wasn't the best target. What was so nice about her anyway?

_She's not you_, the cold voice inside her head told her, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lucy felt her insides tighten painfully.

_Shut up_, she told it.

A moment later, she heard the voice drawl coldly: "Get out of my sight."

She saw Gray chortle into his cheese fries as outside the window, the reporter he'd knocked out earlier was running out of the diner like snapping fish were at his feet. Gray obviously hadn't heard anything. Lucy resisted an urge to get up and look whether Sting was in the diner.

_What he does is none of your business now_, she reminded herself.

A hole in her heart began to grow. She ignored it. She was used to it, after all… Sting had hurt her to her very core, every time she heard his name she still hurt a bit, deep down. She knew it was a light sentence, compared to what she used to go through every time she heard his name a month ago. She used to gasp for air, kneeling down on the floor, painfully choking back her tears every time she was reminded of his handsome face, his soft voice going: "Luce, do you know how pretty you are?" and then she would laugh, and pull him close to her, his expression just begging for a kiss…

_Stop it,_ a voice inside her head said. _He's gone, you pushed him out with your letter, and he's not coming back. You wanted this. _

She just sighed. She knew better than to ignore that voice. The truth was blaring loud and clear in front of her. Sting was gone because she'd pushed him out, and not because he had left, for all the reasons she knew why, and it was better this way.

It still hurt a little, damn…

Gray's voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"Luce, you okay? You're zoned out."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just… thinking."

Gray chuckled and ruffled her hair across the table. "Ah, stop it. You look prettier when you smile. Like this." He stuck his tongue out and made a goofy grin.

Lucy laughed and smacked him lightly across the arm.

"I do _not._"

* * *

Sting paused, his dragon ears cocking up at the all too-familiar voice he heard behind him.

But what would Lucy be doing in Hargeon? He wondered to himself.

Should he turn around and say hi?

He heard laughter emitting from the booth behind him. A male's voice chuckled and said: "Stop it; you look prettier when you smile…" Sting felt his heart stop at that sentence. Who was telling Lucy she looked pretty?

A low growl came from his throat defiantly. How dare that person compliment his Lucy?

_Your Lucy?_ a little voice inside his head poked him. _Stop it Sting, you have no right to be mad now_. _She can be with whoever she wants. You have no hold on her, not since the day that letter came in your mailbox._

Sting sighed at that sentence. He hated it to the very ends of his bones, but that voice was right. He had no claim on her.

A defiant side of him came out and ignored that voice inside his head that was telling him to be sensible.

That didn't mean he couldn't spy on her right?

A cheeky grin crossed Sting's features. No, no it didn't, he figured.

Swapping himself into stealth-mode, he crept over to the toilet which conveniently had a great view of Lucy's booth. He hid behind the wall of the hall adjoining to the toilets and watched as Lucy's pretty face lit up with laughter. He felt a familiar pang of longing for her. Damn, she was as beautiful as ever.

Who was making her laugh? His eyes roved over to the tall, lean male opposite of her. The dark hair and open shirt only confirmed his identity. _Fullbuster._ Sting gritted his teeth. Were they dating now? What were they doing in Hargeon?

How dare he make a move on Lucy? Sting wondered angrily. She'd only been single for less than a month! Did they have something before Sting and Lucy had separated?

_Stop thinking like an idiot, Sting_, the voice inside of his head stated quite plainly. _Just because Lucy is here with him doesn't mean they're together. You've forgotten they were team mates, long before you even know she existed. They're obviously good friends. She might be on a job. Hasn't it occurred to you that she would come here for a mission? _

_But why with Gray? _Sting wondered. If he knew correctly, the last time he spoke to her concerning missions, she usually partnered with that flame-head Natsu Dragneel. She never partnered with Gray.

_It's none of your concern, even if she decided to switch partners, you idiot. Now stop spying on her. It's simply beneath your dignity as a dragon slayer, and what if someone sees you?_ The voice, snide in his head pointed out how illogical he was being.

A middle-aged woman came out of the restroom and shrieked at the sight of him, obviously thinking he was a pervert. Sting ignored her but he felt his face flush red with embarrassment. Yes, he definitely was being illogical. He should stop doing this before she or someone else called the authorities.

He walked over to the exit of the diner as quickly as he could without being noticed, hoping Lucy or Gray wouldn't see him.

As he got to the outside of the diner, he sighed in resentment. Why did everything have to be so complicated? And why did Lucy have to smile like that in front of Gray?

He hated it, but his heart ached for her presence painfully.

* * *

Lucy finished her food, and watched Gray freeze and unfreeze her iced tea, then making it snow into her drink.

"Gray!" she swatted his hand away. She hadn't exactly asked for snow in her drink.

"Luce!" he grinned cheekily. He froze her drink again with a wave of his hand. Lucy just sighed in defeat. She was too tired to argue back.

"Okay, maybe we should get going." She really wasn't in the mood for Gray's jokes.

"Yeah, good idea."

Being the idiot he was, Gray didn't realise he was annoying Lucy. He gave signal to a waiter for the bill.

Lucy's thoughts had floated back to Sting. She wondered whether he was in the booth behind her's. Pretending she had to take a trip to the restroom, she slipped off her seat and walked to the restrooms. She took a peek at the booth behind hers.

Empty, she thought, wondering why she was so disappointed. It wasn't like Sting would've come to see her or anything. Besides, from the looks of it, he was back to his womanizing ways already… she thought bitterly.

_Lisanna? Really?_ She thought incredulously. She had never liked the take-over mage, and this just further pushed her up the list of people Lucy would love to accidentally on purpose push off a cliff.

Lucy gritted her teeth. Well, that was none of her business. She was in Hargeon for one thing only: a mission. Nothing would put her off track, she decided. She had other things to worry about, and Sting sodding Eucliffe was not on that list.

Suddenly, an explosion shook the building and she heard people screaming.

Alarmed, she pulled out her key pouch and sprinted in Gray's direction.

"Do you think…?" she was cut off by Gray.

"Yeah, we should take care of it." Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her outside.

Ah, one of the stress-free perks of being a mage. If something magic-related happens, it's automatically your duty to take care of it; otherwise you're a bad example of a magic wielder.

Lucy sighed again as her feet streaked outside the store to take care of the explosion.

* * *

**OH SNAP! AN EXPLOSION?**

**I wonder who it is ;) Again, thank you all my fellow readers for being so great with the favourites and follows and most importantly, the reviews! **

**Wondering what happened while Sting was outside? And what's going on with Gray when it comes to Lucy? Does he like her? Yes, I think he does. But I don't think he has much of a chance when someone like Sting Eucliffe exists. ;)**

**COMING SOON:**

**Gray and his messed up feelings! Is Sting still outside when Lucy runs out with Gray? Will they see each other? Only I know, for now. Dont kill me guys. The next chap is coming... as soon as the story hits 20 reviews. :) **

**Review! I greatly appreciate every single one, and I will try my best to reply each and every single one because I know you great people more than deserve it :)**

**Till the next chapter darlings. **

**Love,**

**Jelisse**


	5. Chapter 5: The Bomb

**Replies to Reviews of Chapter 4:**

**Write-A-Rainbow: HEHEHEHE well you'll see what happens soon enough ;) and yes, Sting doesnt even know Lisanna. he just was very annoyed. anyways. happy reading! :) thank you for the unwavering support.**

**AngelXReaper: hahaha well Lucy isnt that bad... is she? wait, that depends on me. hahaha. well you'll just have to read on and see ;) thank you for the review by the way, i found your review very uplifting :3 happy reading!**

**SimplyIsabelleS: well if im inspired i tend to write very quickly hahah, i just have to put my ideas to paper straight away yknow? And i prefer a more sarcastic and silly Gray, everyone's too serious in this story, we need someone a little more on the comical side hehehe. thanks for the continuous support, it means a lot :) happy reading!**

**Dreamer852: Gah, of course i will continue it, readers like you are the reason why :3 i will! and i hope you enjoy it :) happy reading!**

**meli-kun: well here you go, this is an explanation to your wonders :)) happy reading!**

**animefanticforever28: i update as soon as i can :)and you have no idea how happy your review made me. its very touching. thank you from the bottom of my heart :) i hope to get more reviews with each chap, so something like that is extremely motivating. lots of love and happy reading!**

**i know i said wait till the reviews reach 20, but i felt bad keeping chap 5 from you guys.**

**happy reading! ^^**

**Chapter 5: The Bomb**

Sting was figuring whether to wait and say hi to Lucy and pretend like nothing had happened or to leave before the awkward confrontation with her seemingly new guy came.

Suddenly, a greasy chubby man appeared out of nowhere, cackling and shooting bolts of light at his pursuer. He was obviously some kind of criminal on the run. His hair was black and stuck out in tufts, and his pot belly protruded most unattractively. Sting personally hated unfit people. As he had a firm six-pack, he felt like fat people were just lazy slobs who didn't bother to work out.

People started screaming and running in every direction. Sting sighed.

Looks like he had to save the day. Again.

He stared at the tufted hair man, wondering whether to use magic and subdue him, or just knock his lights out and wait for the cops to arrive. As he watched, the man levitated a table in the air and sent it in the direction of his capturer, angering Sting as he saw several passer-bys scramble out of the way. Who did this guy think he was?

Magic it is, he decided with a smirk.

"Hey! Who do you think you are? The Running Meatball of Magnolia?" Sting yelled at the man to get his attention.

The fat man turned around, leering at him. His hands were glowing with light. He seemed to be a levitation mage.

"Are you a fool, kid? Nobody crosses me. I am the Great Gaston Jenks, Master of Light."

Now this pissed Sting off.

_Master of Light? _Sting fumed. _Oh, I'll show you who the master of light here is._

Sting hissed in anger (It was a dragon slayer thing) and turned to the man.

"White Dragon's ROAR!"

Sting blasted the man with his roar. A source of pure, flaming, burning undiluted energy lit up his surroundings. The man should be dead by now, he thought.

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Sting got the shock of his life when he realised the man was still standing there, the same, just slightly annoyed this time. He gulped. He knew supposedly only dragon slayers could withstand that much amount of power and escape unharmed. _Who is this guy?_ He worried.

"You should've listened the first time, kid." The man leered at Sting, his yellowed teeth showing in an uneven grin. For a really ugly guy, he certainly had to be powerful if he just withstood Sting's attack.

"Now, watch a _real_ master at work." The man pointed his hands in the direction of Sting and simply said: "Hologram, activate!"

A blast of light came shooting towards Sting, and he could feel the heat emitting from the attack. _What kind of power was this?_ He gasped.

Sting closed his eyes in reaction to the attack. _This is gonna hurt,_ he gulped.

The attack never came. However, he did hear a big explosion in front of him.

He opened his eyes, to see the light hit a giant ice wall which shattered in result in front of him.

"Fullbuster?" he coughed. The debris in front of him was too dusty to see the figure who had conjured up the shield that had saved his life.

A guy with pale silvery hair and a lean, muscled body stood where the shield had been. He only had a pair of pants on, which meant his taut tight abs were on display for everyone to see.

The guy merely snorted. "Fullbuster can't pull a trick like that." He strode over to check whether Sting was hurt, in which he wasn't.

It was Lyon Vastia. Sting gaped. What was a Lamia Scale member doing here? First Lucy, now Lyon. He sure was bumping into everyone lately.

"What're you doing here?" Sting asked coolly. Sabertooth didn't get along very well with other guilds.

"Simple word of thanks would be nice. I'd ask you the same thing. I'm chasing that guy; he's on the magic council's wanted list. What're _you_ doing here?" Lyon raised his head to look at Sting. A look of disdain was apparent on his face. He had no liking for Sabertooth members.

"I was chasing someone else." Sting didn't want to explain why he came; it would've sounded simply petty and embarrassing.

"Hmph. Well, at least you weren't assigned to this mission. I'd be busier that way." Lyon cut the conversation short by aiming a renewed attack at the irritatingly powerful levitation mage.

Realising what Lyon had implied, Sting grew red-faced and said: "Hey! What's that supposed to m-" he was forced to shut his mouth as another blast of light came funnelling towards him. He jumped out of the way and watched as the light made the walls of a diner crumble.

_Lucy's inside,_ he realised with horror.

He ran towards the debris surrounding the mess of the building and began digging.

"Lucy! Where are you?!" he yelled.

"Sting!"

A female voice called him, and he turned around to find another attack surging towards him, and he panicked. Before he knew it, a body flew against him and knocked him aside.

"You idiot! That guy could've killed you!" screeched the voice again.

Sting opened his eyes to see Lucy getting off his lap where she had fallen.

He simply stared. He'd never seen her in awhile; her golden hair had gotten longer, her face seemed a little paler and body more toned. Had she been working out? He wondered. If she had it was working well, he thought.

"Open, gate of the Bull! Taurus!"

Sting stared even more. Was that a bull? He wondered if the impact from the shove just now was giving him hallucinations. What was a bull doing in the middle of the street?

"Eucliffe! Would you quit stalling and help already?" an annoyed Lyon's voice jolted him back to reality. He shook his head and got back on his feet.

The fat man was now running around with a jolly expression on his face, cackling as he taunted the mages and dodging attacks by Taurus the bull and Lyon. Sting realised the bull was one of Lucy's celestial spirits. "Ha ha ha, you're too slow~"

He watched Lucy hold her whip ready and Gray prepare to attack, standing in front of Lucy in a protective stance. _Wait, why does he get to protect her?_ A voice inside him whined.

Sting stood up. Gray launched ice projectiles at the wanted man, only to have them bounce off his skin. Taurus the bull was swinging his axe repeatedly, only the man's skin seemed to be axe-proof. Lyon was busy making ice shields to protect the innocent bystanders.

He has a shield of pure undiluted magic surrounding him, realised Sting. It wasn't easy to make a shield like that, let alone sustain it… _this guy must be more powerful than he looks, _he figured. It would be useless attacking him non-stop if they didn't find a way to break the shield first.

"Hey! You know, for a dragon slayer, you're pretty darn slow!" Gray's voice taunted him. Sting growled. _Oh, you want fast eh?_

Sting moved so quick Gray didn't see him coming.

Sting punched him in the face.

Stupid Fullbuster.

Gray slumped to one side, knocked out for the count, and Sting snorted and took his place next to Lucy, who had a look of horror on her face.

"Why'd you do that? Now we have one less available fighter." She yelled at him. _She still looks cute when she's mad,_ Sting chortled to himself.

"What? He was annoying me. And it's not like he was helping much. Do you notice the magic surrounding this meatball man? Its too pure, undiluted to let any of your spells penetrate it. If you don't find out how to get through the shield, you might as well stop wasting your magic." scoffed Sting.

_Meatball man,_ giggled Lucy to herself. She stopped herself from smiling. She was supposed to be angry at Sting for knocking out her team mate.

A "Hmph!" was all he'd earned from her.

_Good enough,_ Sting figured and grinned to himself. _Now, how do you penetrate a_ magic _shield…?_

Soon enough, he got an idea.

"Luce! Summon your Horologium spirit and trap him! Then we can keep him hostage till we figure out how to subdue him."

Lucy just stared at him. What, was it that bad of an idea?

Lucy was actually wondering, since when had _he_ become so strategic in battle? She remembered him as one who constantly just threw in whatever he had in fights. Now he was analyzing, thinking of every step he made before he wasted his effort. _It's actually pretty impressive_, she thought.

_Stop it! You're supposed to be mad at him!_

She summoned Horologium.

"Yes, mistress?" Horologium smiled at her, squinting his eyes.

Lucy smiled. "Trap him in your glass box, please."

"Immediately, mistress."

The meatball man saw the clockwork spirit and paled.

"You want to trap me? Not today, suckers!" he vanished in a whirl of light.

"Damn it! That was a good idea Lucy. If he ran, it must've been supposed to work," Lyon walked over and shook her hand warmly. She grinned at him. His hand was surprisingly warm for an ice mage.

He remembered Lucy alright. _She sure is prettier than the last time I saw her…_ he thought, dazed by her smile. It was just Sting here whom he didn't exactly favour.

"It was actually Sting's idea." She said grudgingly.

Sting smiled cockily. _Well, at least she's not mad enough to ignore that fact._

Lyon pointedly ignored that fact. Instead, he turned to Lucy (_again?!_ Sting fumed) who was trying to carry Gray unsuccessfully.

"What were you two doing in Hargeon?" he noticed they were together. Alone. Were they together now? Lyon wondered.

"We actually just came down here for a mission, and we end up bumping into you and Sting. Weird, eh?" Lucy replied with a laugh.

"Are you two together?" Lyon asked curiously. He couldn't imagine Gray snagging such a beautiful girl.

Lucy just laughed even more. "No, we're not. He's just a good friend." Sting noticed the warmth in her eyes as she said that and he felt a tinge of jealousy poke at his heart.

_I could be a good friend too, _he rolled his eyes.

"I came for a mission too, as you can see. Well. I'd better get going." Lyon excused himself. "I'd say goodbye to Gray, but…" he trailed off.

Lucy snorted. "It's all because of him." She pointed at Sting.

"What, he was annoying me; don't look at me like that!" Sting protested in defence.

"Yeah, so I've heard." Lyon gave him a cold stare. _What did I ever do to you?_ Sting glared back.

"You can handle that guy by yourself? He seems pretty powerful. Do you have other mages on this mission?" Lucy asked Lyon, concerned. She had a feeling Lyon, although he was pretty powerful, wouldn't be enough to subdue a man with this amount of magic.

_Why is she so concerned about him?_ Wondered Sting, annoyed.

"Don't worry about me. There are a few other mages from other guilds coming in a few days, so yeah, I think I'll be fine."

"Alright then, I'll see you soon." Lucy smiled at him, and Lyon waved back warmly and took off.

"Bye," muttered Sting. He had never liked Lamia Scale, and he had good reason to. They treated him like he was unworthy of something. _Yeah, well look who's in the number one guild in Fiore, _he sneered to himself.

Lucy turned to him rather awkwardly.

"Well, this is a surprise." She gave him a half smile. She really didn't know what to say, and neither did he. Gray was stirring on the floor next to Lucy's feet.

"Yeah, it is. Say, you two are on a mission?" he pointed at the two of them. Gray's eyes popped open, only to glare at Sting full-scale for knocking him out just now.

"Mmhm. It's just a simple one, some rosebushes got infected with a magic spell and the owner needs help."

"You don't have to tell him, Luce. Let's get going." Gray got to his feet, glaring pointedly at Sting, who was glaring at him, equally.

"Wait a little, Gray. I haven't seen him in awhile; surely we're not in that much of a hurry?" Lucy smiled at Sting, who half-smiled back at her. Boy did he miss that smile.

"Fine," huffed Gray. He hated Sting; the only reason he was only tolerating this because Lucy had dated the guy. If Lucy hadn't told him two hours ago, he would've left without another word, regardless of what she thought.

"So… how have you been?" Once Gray had left to the inn nearby to get lodgings, the silence between them seemed to have amplified by ten times.

"Um, good. Never better, actually. You?"

"Ah, you know the usual. A reporter hounded me for information on my love life just now. It's like the old days." Sting grinned and ran a hand through his soft blonde hair. Lucy was visited by a sudden urge to run her fingers through it like how she used to.

She gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, the old days." Sting was referring to the times they had been dating. Reporters had sniffed it out and were always hounding them both for proof. It had done nothing but added strain to their already stretched out relationship.

"Say, talking about love lives, I heard you were dating Lisanna Strauss? Congratulations." She gave him a fake smile. She ignored the pangs of pain that were shooting around in her heart as she said that aloud. She brushed them away as signs that her heart just wasn't used to Sting as a friend. Yes, that was probably it.

_Then why are you bringing up Lisanna Strauss as a conversation topic?_

Sting interrupted her thoughts by laughing out loud. "God, no. that's just one of the thousand rumours they make up about me. I don't even know her, much less date her. Where'd you get that idea from?" he tried to sound offhand about it, but his insides were shrivelling. The whole point of chasing the reporter was to have stopped Lucy from hearing that stupid untruth, and now his whole purpose was ruined. He had no doubt about why Lucy was being uncomfortable now. She thought of him as a playboy, which was why. He wanted to assure her that he had changed when he met her, not lied just to get into her pants.

Lucy felt herself practically float with relief. So it was just a rumour… he really was the same Sting she had fallen for after all.

She regarded him with much more warmth after that tiny skirmish in their conversation.

"So, I'll see you around, Lucy." Sting waved goodbye as he headed towards the train station to head back to Crocus.

Lucy half wanted to hug him goodbye, but she thought it was better if she remained professional towards him. They were nothing more than fellow mages now, and a hug might have given him the wrong impression.

_She's still as beautiful as ever_, sighed Sting as he sat in his train compartment alone, trying to ignore the motion sickness. Somehow it wasn't so bad after seeing Lucy.

He'd almost hugged her goodbye; he had thought the better of it after consideration. It was best not to give her the wrong impression that he was still into her. She deserved better, he had decided. They were nothing more than acquaintances now.

Somehow he felt like there was still something between them, something that had never gone away.

* * *

"There you go sir, your roses are now officially unharmed." Lucy presented a garden of fang-free roses to a now happy and not terrified old man. He happily presented her reward of 10 000 jewels to her, which she kept safely in her pocket.

Lucy skipped back to the inn, with Gray casually strolling next to her, his eyes on the blonde beauty. _She looks cute when she skips,_ smiled Gray.

They climbed up the stairwell which led to their rooms.

"Goodnight Gray." She wished him before stepping into her separate room for the night.

Gray turned to look at her. "Goodnight Lucy." He suddenly fought the urge to sneak into her room and snuggle beside her for the night. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ He wondered.

_I don't like her; I guess I just wanted to make sure she was safe. Yeah, I'm just overprotective of her. She's like a sister to me._

_You don't want to snuggle up to Erza or Mira,_ the snide voice in his head pointed out coldly.

_Well I'm not as close to them as I am with Lucy._

_All the better reason to admit you like her. _The snide voice was literally, too brutally honest. Gray didn't want to admit it, but yes. He liked her. She fulfilled all his qualities of the ideal girl. But he knew she didn't like him more than a friend. _And that's how it's always going to be,_ he thought glumly as he got into bed.

He had seen how she looked at Sting to know enough. She still loved him, no doubt. He had never seen anyone else look at each other with such passionately dazed expressions. If he hadn't known better, he would've thought they were together.

"Damnit Lucy, why do you have to love him?" mumbled Gray. He thought of Sting as the worst possible boyfriend for Lucy. Arrogant, self-centred, womanizer. He knew Sting was that kind of person. And yet, when Sting was with Lucy, Sting was suddenly Mr. Nice Guy. It irritated Gray. And Lucy didn't seem to notice because she was too busy fawning over him.

He sighed and punched his pillow into shape. He would never get the girl he wanted, never.

* * *

**Sigh, poor Gray-sama. His love life is so tough. Oh wait, that's because of me… **

**Anyway, how have my fellow readers been? How's your winter? Over here its still summer because of my geographical situation… it will always be summer here. Sigh. **

**Sting and Lucy! Do they still like each other? Or is it just an aftermath of what used to be their past? And the meatball man! HAHAHA. That just came in a bout of inspiration as I was craving meatballs and spaghetti hehehehe.**

**Anyways, Gray might have a love interest in the later chapters, but I don't intend on inserting one just yet, as this story isn't focused on him. **

**Keep the reviews coming, and I might just elaborate on that coveted Magnolia Ball in a further chapter. Spoiler alert: imagine Sting in a tuxedo. WOOHOO.**

**Oh, and suggestions on what Sting, Rogue, Lyon, Natsu and Gray should wear in the ball are greatly welcomed, as I have no idea T_T**

**(Strictly formal wear, for your information hahaha. If I owned Fairy Tail there would be a lot more nudity with the Sabertooth boys. *wink wink*)**

**Love you all, keep the support coming! **

**Jelisse**


	6. Chapter 6: The Occurence

**Replies to reviews of Chapter 5!**

**ButterBellyBoy: i appreciate the extreme long review hahah, i will definitely try to elaborate my scenes properly next time, and all the advice comes helpful :) here's the sixth chapter! enjoy!**

**Write-A-Rainbow: you ask the best questions hehehehe read on and find your answers ;) thanks again! your reviews are always appreciated :)**

**AngelXReaper: Sting is always funny pfft hahahaha im glad you enjoyed it :D enjoy this new chapter as well! thank you!**

**MissAMira: yeah, i feel you, i love GraLu too, but this is a StiLu. hehehe. thank you for the reviews :) they will get a lot (and i mean, A LOT) aof screen time together so no worries ;)**

**SimplyIsabelleS: yeap, Gray is... complex. hahaha. oh well. we'll just have to wait and see what happens right? :D and i'd rather have snow... the sun is a pain. one minute its hot, the other its raining cats and dogs. my climate here is rather... rainforest-ish. **

**GingerLily01: well we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and keep reading, shall we? ;) **

**animefanticforever28: I FEEL YOU IN THIS. HAHAHA. thanks for the opinion ;)**

**DancingSting: i can tell by your name that you already ship StiLu woohoo good for you! i appreciate the review, tell your friend that this chappie is up already! :) happy reading!**

**ENJOY!**

**Chapter 6: The Occurrence**

Lucy lounged in her bed, exhausted from the train ride home. She had one day to rest, and then it was off to that manhunt mission. Work, work.

She figured she might as well spend the day looking for a dress, since she had a vast amount of money now that she didn't know what to do with. The money that came with the next mission was simply for her rent.

She changed into something breezier and lighter than her travelling clothes as the weather was hot.

Five minutes later, she strolled out into the streets in a grey sleeveless crop top and denim high-waisted shorts. Her bright red purse was slung over her shoulders, with her long golden blonde hair tossed nonchalantly around her head in a bun. She looked like a million dollars glittering under the sun.

Store after store, she pored through what seemed like a million dresses and a thousand pairs of shoes. She found a pair of simple satin white heels, which she hadn't given much thought. After all, she was saving her splurge for the dress.

Finally, after a lot of dresses, she found the perfect one.

Every person in the store including the owner herself had simply gaped at her when she had emerged out of the dressing room. People wondered whether she was secretly royalty, for she looked incredibly flawless.

She left the store feeling very lucky as the store owner said that this dress had only one in its existence, as it was hand sewn by a prestigious designer himself. Lucy had paid exactly 10000 jewels for the dress. Still, she felt it was worth it as nobody else would have such a gorgeous dress at the Magnolia Ball.

Getting home, she hung the dress on a hanger, taking care not to crease it, and kept it safely in her closet, where it would be safe from a careless Natsu and a Happy with sharp claws.

She wondered if Sting was going to the ball.

She shook the thought off, assuming he wouldn't go, deeming it below him.

_No, _she supposed he wouldn't go.

* * *

Sting was lounging on his sofa, eating a bowl of chilli cheese nachos as he read a magazine.

His thoughts travelled to Lucy again, somehow. He wondered how she was doing.

He wondered whether Gray was with her. That bastard definitely wanted something more than friendship with her, judging by the way he treated her and looked at her. Thankfully Lucy was oblivious to everything.

He shook the slightly annoying thought off and continued reading. He had to stop thinking of her…

Rogue's voice cut in suddenly.

"Hey, Sting?"

"Yeah?" he called in response.

"Have you gotten a tux yet?"

"A tux? Whatever for?" Sting gaped at him like he had gone mad.

"The Magnolia Ball. All the elite mages in Fiore have been invited. It's exclusive. You went last year; you might as well go again." Rogue shrugged.

Sting groaned and slid off the couch. He brushed nacho crumbs off his grey sweater (not noticing it was the one Lucy bought him), not bothered that the carpet was now covered in cheese bits.

He didn't want to go, but his inner fetish for galas and balls wanted to dress up and indulge. He hadn't gotten drunk for awhile now.

"When is it again?"

"Next weekend."

"Are you going?"

"If you are."

"Let's go get some tuxedos and blow those girls minds."

Rogue chuckled inwardly as he helped Sting to his feet. He knew there was only one girl's mind that would truly matter when it came to Sting. And that girl was Lucy Heartfilia.

* * *

Lucy paused in front of the huge guild door. She was on her way to her second mission now, the manhunt with the big reward. Now, she had to find the master of this guild first…

She pushed open the big green doors of Lamia Scale. A respectable guild, they were all busy at work as she looked around, searching for the master. She was a little intimidated by how serious all of the members looked as they carried out their work.

Some were looking for missions at boards by the windows; some were reading books about ancient magic. Others were having coffee as they pored over their paper work and the rest were chatting lively at the guild's tiny café.

It was like the complete opposite of Fairy Tail. It was quiet and conservative here. Lucy wouldn't have minded joining a guild like this, where everyone was so serious about their jobs. But then again, there wasn't a guild in the world like Fairy Tail.

She saw Jura instead, sitting at a desk labelled Master. Raising an eyebrow, she asked: "I need to look for the master, since when have you been elected master of Lamia Scale?" she peered at him pointedly. Jura just chuckled good-naturedly at her antics.

"No, nothing with the likes of that. Master is away, that's all, and I'm just filling in for him."

Lucy nodded in understanding. That was a logical move.

"Um, I'm here enquiring about the mission you posted in our guild? A manhunt?"

"Yes, about that. This man has been plaguing many towns by now. His latest stop was Hargeon, plundering a local jewellery store, a few days ago."

Lucy frowned. Hargeon, a few days ago? This sounded too familiar…

"You have to assist our representing mage in stopping him. It's not very easy, I have to warn you. This guy is an expert magic user. He uses a concentration of light magic to assist him in many tricks and plunders. Its rather similar to the White Dragon Slayer's magic, only more detailed, more intricate." Lucy felt her heart skip a beat. Sting… how could this fat guy be more powerful than Sting? He was a dragon slayer, for god's sake!

And everything was falling into place in her head now.

The meatball man, she realised with horror. She had to capture… that?

"If a respected guild like Lamia Scale has to call for help, it definitely isn't going to be a pushover defeating him."

Lucy had a weird mix of déjà vu and horror pooled up inside of her.

Like Jura read her mind, (she wouldn't be surprised if he could, he was after all one of the ten Wizard Saints) he started telling her about the mission. The dread subdued her.

"You will be assisting our top S-class mage Lyon Vastia in subduing the so called Master of Light, Gaston Jenks. He is a wanted criminal in many cases. Apart from the 10000 jewels we will be paying you for assisting one of our top mages, you'll probably receive a reward from the town councils all over Fiore as he is wanted almost everywhere. I suggest you wait here while I call for him. Do make yourself at home. There's a café outside if you're hungry. The blueberry muffins are excellent."

As Jura turned back to his paperwork, Lucy gaped. Jura had confirmed that it was the same mission that Lyon was on a few days ago. She nodded mutely and made her way over to the guild's café.

Her mind was reeling from too many questions.

First, why hadn't she realised this was the same mission as Lyon's? She wanted to hit herself on the head with Taurus's axe for being so resolute. Now she had to go on a dangerous mission with a mage she barely knew.

Secondly, why hadn't she done more research on this meatball guy? How was she supposed to defeat a man who was supposed to be more powerful than her ex-boyfriend? Even if Lyon helped, she wasn't sure they could subdue someone who had more magic than Sting… of all people; she knew his magic better than anyone. She knew it was powerful, and her spirits stood no chance against this guy. Moreover, she didn't want to endanger any of her spirits. How was she supposed to fix this?

Third, this mission was supposed to do anything but remind her of Sting. After hearing that this guy had magic similar to Sting's, that wasn't going to turn out well after all.

Lastly, she wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but she was a little intimidated by Lyon…

She walked over to the counter to order something to calm her down, only to find a small surprise over the counter in the form of Chelia, Wendy's friend since the Grand Magic Games.

"Hello Chelia." Lucy smiled weakly down at the little girl.

"Hello Lucy, it's nice to see you again. What will you have?" Chelia asked her politely, her big blue eyes blinking up at the blonde mage adorably.

"I'll take a caramel macchiato and a blueberry muffin please."

"That'll be 50 jewels please."

Lucy reached for her purse only to be stopped by a deep masculine voice that lingered behind her ear.

"It's on me."

Lucy jumped like she had been electrocuted.

She turned around to see Lyon smiling pleasantly at her. Oh, it was just Lyon. She was terrified that some guy had decided to hit on her.

It being said, Lyon probably didn't really calm her nerves either…

"Hi Lyon. There's really no need-" she stammered.

He cut her sentence short.

"If you're going to help me with this stupid fat pain in the arse, I might as well pay for your food. You're gonna need it, chasing him around. Believe me, he's not easy to find."

She giggled at his crudeness. He must really hate Gaston a lot.

They sat down at the table, and Lucy sipped her macchiato quietly, unsure of what to say.

Lyon turned towards her, his expression unreadable.

"I didn't realise you were the assistance they'd called for."

Lucy tried not to panic at that. Did that mean he didn't want her on this?

She really didn't want to go on the mission now. She was admittedly terrified. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't think of a way to defeat or capture this guy. Her magic wasn't even nearly as powerful as Sting's, for God's sake!

To top it all off, she was going to embarrass herself in front of Lyon Vastia…

"Me neither." stammered Lucy, forcing a smile to cover her growing discomfort. _Why hadn't she realised?_

"It's alright. I have confidence in your spirits. I watched you during the Grand Magic Games, you're really powerful. It shouldn't be too hard taking this guy down, especially now that you're here." Lyon's words and oddly cheerful tone surprised her tenfold.

Was he saying that she could actually help defeat this guy?

Like he could read Lucy's mind, Lyon chuckled.

"You don't have to look so shell-shocked. I have a plan. When we get to where he's hiding, I'll tell you."

Lucy nodded mutely, trying to process everything. Lyon was calmly stating that the impossible was somehow possible.

_Well, he's S-class for a reason_, Lucy figured. _I might as well trust him. _

Someone in the distance yelled for Lyon, and he turned around, saying: "Be right back. Wait here, and when I get back we can set off. He's in Crocus now, and we'll go there." Lucy couldn't help but think of Sting.

Crocus, huh. It concerned her how much she was in potential of running into Sting these days.

"I think Lyon-sama likes you. He doesn't usually smile this much." giggled a pink-haired Chelia behind the counter.

Lucy just blushed and laughed. Chelia was really adorable. She was confident Lyon didn't like her, however. She was pretty sure he was enamoured with a certain blue-haired water mage the last time they had met.

"Shhh. He told me not to tell anyone, but he thinks you're pretty." Chelia whispered to Lucy. Lucy just chuckled some more, brushing it off as a mere compliment. Lyon wasn't too bad himself, she supposed with a sly smirk.

"Shall we go?" Lyon had reappeared out of nowhere, picking up Lucy's travel bags and heading for the doors of the guild.

Lucy ran after him, slightly jogging to keep up with his pace of walking.

"Shhh." Chelia winked at Lucy. Lucy winked back.

* * *

Lucy sat on her compartment seat in the train, staring out of the window. Lyon was opposite her, reading a book on ancient ice sculpting spells. She wondered how he could be so serious about his magic all the time. A question came to her mind, bugging her slowly, and eventually her curiosity got the better of her.

"Hey, Lyon. Have you ever come across any ice element celestial spirits?"

He pulled his head out of the book and looked at her, curious.

"Why do you want to know?"

Lucy shrugged. "I'm just curious."

Lyon wondered why the blonde girl was so obsessed with celestial spirits. She already had ten of the twelve golden keys, and that made her one of the most powerful celestial mages in existence.

"Well," he smiled at her. "There is one I've heard of. It's the guardian angel, Gabriel. That key is a sapphire key, and it only has one in its existence. It's extremely hard to find, and even if you did, no ordinary celestial mage could summon him. He only comes to those worthy of his presence. He's an extremely powerful spirit, more powerful than any of your gold key spirits. His mere presence is god-like. He can freeze things with the touch of his hand, and he has major control over anything cold. He's like the handsome version of the abominable snowman." Lyon grinned.

Lucy burst out laughing at the last part. _Handsome version of the abominable_ _snowman? _Who knew Lyon could be funny?

Lyon allowed himself a small smile at her cute reaction.

"Wow, how did you know that? You're so smart." She complimented him, and he felt himself blush. _Why are you blushing? Stop blushing! Ice mages don't blush!_

"Oh, its nothing. I do research on ice elemental magic a lot, and it's just something I found in my spare time."

"I see. Well if we get out of this mission okay then maybe I'll go on a mission looking for that key."

"Would I have the honour of accompanying you? After all, I was the one who informed you of such a key." Lyon winked at her, and she laughed again. Apparently there was more to Lyon that just that cold demeanour of his. She liked his personality very much, he was serious when he needed to be, but his jokes cracked her up like crazy.

"These kinds of guys are a rare species," Cana had once told her.

Lyon just smiled at her gaily expression and continued reading, his thoughts jumbling in his head. _She sure is cute when she laughs,_ he admitted. _But Juvia's prettier_, his mind protested. _Oh, is she now?_ He argued back and forth with himself.

_Juvia's the one for you._

_She likes Gray; maybe I should stop chasing her. Its unrequited love, really._

_So you decide to chase Lucy instead? What kind of guy are you?_

_I don't want to chase her! She's the most respectable girl I know, and I'm not going to tarnish that._

_So back off of her._

_I haven't done anything so far, _he retorted.

_Not yet you haven't, _the voice reminded him.

Lyon just sighed tiredly. He didn't know what to say. He just figured Lucy was a really nice girl; plus he wasn't the type for pick-up lines and romantic dates. He just figured love would come when it was time.

* * *

The train lights flickered on and off.

Lucy woke up from her nap, startled. She always had been a light sleeper. She looked at Lyon, who was equally startled.

"Does the train usually do this?" he asked her, concerned that it was malfunctioning and they wouldn't be able to get to Crocus in time. It was already evening; they still had to eat and find lodgings so that they could rest and start the mission early tomorrow.

"Not that I'm aware of. Should we check it out?" Lucy asked Lyon.

He thought about it, and decided against it. For all they knew it could've just been flickers in the electric box that caused the lights to act this way. There was no use overreacting.

Lucy shrugged and went back to sleeping. Lyon decided to stay awake, as they were nearing Crocus.

Suddenly, they heard screams from the compartments behind them. Lucy jumped, alarmed.

"On second thought, maybe we should…" Lyon trailed off as the celestial mage grabbed her keys and ran out of the compartment.

"I'm way ahead of you, Vastia." She stuck her tongue out at him as they both ran in the direction of the screams.

Lyon just chuckled and wondered why he had never noticed her before.

Ahead of them, they saw several men, clad in black, holding some of the passengers hostage as they appeared to be looting the train of its passengers riches. Lucy gritted her teeth, annoyed. How dare they hijack a passenger train? There wasn't even that much loot in here!

She summoned Loke, who poofed out in an instant, ready to attack.

"Is this your new boyfriend, Lucy?" Loke smirked at Lyon, who ignored him calmly and concentrated on his ice magic.

Lucy glared at Loke. "Do you really want punishment Loke?"

The Lion spirit shuddered. "No thanks, Lucy."

Lucy smirked. "Attack!" she pointed to the black-clad men.

He proceeded to kick the bandits in the groins and chests, making them fall over.

Lyon decided to construct an ice barrier, cutting the other passengers off from this particular compartment so that nobody else would get hurt.

He focused on protecting the passengers who were being held hostage as Lucy tumbled and kicked at the bandits. _She's not bad at this_, he thought nonchalantly as Lucy did a series of serious gymnastics, flipping and kicking like she had been born to do this all her life.

Just as they thought they were having the upper hand in this, the lead bandit hissed at them and said: "Now we have you!" and Lyon watched, wide-eyed as he turned into a giant snake. _Magic?_ He thought, annoyed. Of course; how else had they been able to get into the train unnoticed? They must've hidden in the luggage compartment.

Lyon cursed and made another barrier to cut off the hostages from them; now the only people left in the fight were the bandits, Lucy and her spirits, and Lyon.

"Ice make; Lance!" he threw it at the snake man, who dodged. His minions were all standing at the side, cheering for their master. Lyon rolled his eyes.

"You will not be able to defeat me." The snake-man hissed. He lunged at Lucy, who dodged sideways and kicked him in the head.

"Good one, Lucy!" Lyon complimented her and proceeded to continue attacking him.

"Ice make; Ice Cannon!" Lyon blasted the snake man and he fell down.

"We've got you now!" Loke yelled.

"Regulus; lend me your power." Loke glowed brightly and slammed his fists into the snake-man. Lyon blinked at the huge amount of light.

The snake-man just hissed, down for the count. "You… will… regret thissssss. Our master… awaits you… until then, we shall not… be held captive by the mere likes of you."

Lyon blinked.

_Master?_ Someone had _sent_ them here to take Lucy and Lyon?

His minions threw some kind of black powder which darkened their surroundings and made it impossible for anyone to see.

"Until… we meet… again…" Lucy heard him hiss with a cackle and stomped her feet in frustration, trying to grab the man before he disappeared out the window.

She felt something in her hands and grabbed instinctively; she heard a yell.

"That's my arm!"

The black powder cleared to see Lucy holding Loke in an arm twist, a pained expression evident in his features. Lucy let go of him in horror.

"Oh gosh Loke, I'm so sorry! Go back to the spirit world so you can heal."

Loke grinned, appreciative at his mistress's concern. He kissed her on the cheek, making her blush and turn red, her eyes widening. She opened her mouth to protest because she knew what was coming.

"It's nice to know you care so much about me, Lucy. Our love will last beyond the brightest stars." And with that, he vanished back into the spirit world.

Lucy flushed, embarrassed that Lyon had to see the weird side of one of her spirits.

Lyon on the contrary, was doubled over laughing. "Is he always like this?" he gasped for breath. His eyes shone with mirth; it amused Lucy to see Lyon so hyped. He was usually so calm and collective.

Lucy rolled her eyes and couldn't help but smile at his change of mood. _He sure is_ _cuter when he's all tickled up,_ she smiled. Too bad Juvia doesn't like him, she sighed. Lyon would make a great boyfriend.

She mentally smacked herself; what was she thinking? The fight must've gotten to her head.

Lyon regained his composure and said: "We should make sure everyone's okay, and talk to the train conductor about increasing the security in here. There won't always be mages around in case something like this happens." He frowned, deep in thought.

_Wow, his way of thinking is so mature,_ Lucy admired. For someone who hung out with people like Natsu and Gray so much, it definitely was a nice change to be around someone mature like Lyon for once.

After everything was settled, they went back to their compartment. The entire train had cheered for them as they passed; Lyon had just smiled and waved in return. Lucy found herself wondering how someone so powerful like him was so modest.

_Why am I thinking about him so much?_ She wondered, weirded out.

* * *

**Hello again my darling readers! How's your December been so far?**

**and no, i will not include Obaba Bobosama (the actual Lamia Scale master) in this story. just no. people have limits. and she creeps me out with all her threats to spin people...**

**Yes, I know a lot of you are wondering why the heck Lucy and Lyon are taking interest slowly in one another. Don't worry, its part of the plot ;) it's only starting to get interesting from here, huehuehue~ *evil laughs***

**Are you excited for the chapter with the Magnolia Ball? YES ME TOO! Sting Eucliffe in a tuxedo! Now who doesn't want to read about that? ;) Hehehehe~ yeah you could say he's my favourite character, my second favourite is probably Gray hehehe.**

**Review, review! By the way... there will be a lemon in the next chapter. i wont say who. please dont kill me. if you are too terrified to read my lemon then just uh, skip chapter seven, okay? heh.**

**Love you all ^^**

**Jelisse**


	7. Chapter 7: The Alignment

**Review Replies for Chapter 6:**

**Write-A-Rainbow: hehehehe thank you dear :) no, nobody gets preggers hahahahaha. enjoy this chappie!**

**MissAMira: STILU! HAHAHA. you'll get more in this story after this chappie, alright, i promise. hehehe. enjoy!**

**AngelXReaper: yes, well, Juvia... i dont like her. eheh. i find how she stalks Gray and hates Lucy really, really annoying and as revenge i will never write a fanfic about her HAHAHAH. **

**The Birthday Guest: YOU SHOULD MAKE AN ACCOUNT SO I CAN WISH YOU. JESUS. ah well. happy birthday! and enjoy this chapter! :)**

**SimplyIsabelleS: im happy that you like it :) keeping your interest is kinda the goal here as without a reader's interest i probably would fail as a writer hehehe. enjoy this chappie!**

**GingerLily01: Lyon is just here to spice things up ;) we'll just have to see how it goes, but dont worry i still ship StiLu hehehe. enjoy this chappie!**

**alycat63: im glad you think so :) enjoy this chap!**

**Guest: THANK YOU, THANK YOU. CREATE AN ACCOUNT. :D THANKS HEHE**

since it was someone's birthday wish, i have speeded up the update of this chapter.

happy reading! ^^

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Alignment**

Sting was bored, he decided. He hadn't taken a mission in days. But Rogue was busy; and he didn't want to go alone. And he was worried if he left, he wouldn't be back in time for the coveted Magnolia Ball.

Thinking of the ball reminded him that he hadn't gotten a tuxedo yet. With all the money he had from the exclusive missions he went on, he figured he could well afford to be the best dressed one there. And his rivalry with Fairy Tail, whose guild members were the supposed crown jewels of Magnolia, just further spurred his intentions of overruling them, even in the simplest matter of clothing.

"Lector! We're going shopping. Get up." He prodded Lector, who was sleeping soundly in his tiny red cat bed.

Lector woke up reluctantly, not at all amused by Sting's sudden decision to go shopping, and very much annoyed. "Since when does Sting-kun go shopping?" he muttered groggily.

* * *

Lucy woke up and realised she was lying in the same bed as Lyon _freaking_ Vastia.

Her mouth popped open in a comical 'O'.

"What the hell happened last night?" she shook her head, trying to remember.

Oh, right, she remembered now. She squinted her eyes at the sunlight streaming through the window as she recalled the previous night's happenings.

"What do you mean; you only have rooms with one bed left?" she had asked the receptionist, panicking like crazy. She wasn't going to sleep in the same bed with another guy… no matter how hot he was. Plus, she didn't even know him that well…

The receptionist, who was a kindly old woman, had just smiled toothily at her and said:

"Well, I wouldn't protest if I were you." She winked at Lucy, who felt her jaw drop to the ground. _Really?_ She wanted to yell at the woman. _That's your excuse?_

"We're very sorry for the inconvenience; which is why we'll give you a half-price discount instead. We'll also send some complimentary breakfast in the morning, free of charge."

Lucy paused.

"What kind of breakfast?" she asked suspiciously.

"Fresh peaches and cinnamon buttermilk pancakes, creamy scrambled egg whites topped with chives, freshly squeezed orange juice and buttered wholemeal toast."

She felt her protests slip away. She was a sucker for good food, after all.

And it was just one night… she was sure the bed was big enough to accommodate the both of them without needing any… touching.

Lyon had simply nodded when she informed him they had to share a bed.

"I would've made up an excuse to share a bed with me too." He winked at Lucy.

Lucy laughed and playfully hit him on the arm. "Shut up. I choose breakfast over you."

He had smiled that small half-smile of his and merely suggested that they rested for the remainder of the night.

_And there I was, worrying he would protest,_ grinned Lucy as the prospects of a free good breakfast came to her mind, wiping away the rest of her complications.

Back to the present, Lucy shifted her body slowly so that she sat up against her pillow.

She gazed at Lyon's pale body, tangled beneath the white silk sheets. His silvery hair, mussed from sleep. The firm chest, the taut muscle yearning for her touch, tight against his skin, from his shoulders all the way to where the blankets obstructed her lovely view. His single-lidded eyes, closed peacefully, and again his chest, rising and falling to the steady rhythm of his breathing.

She gave in to temptation. Slowly, she reached one hand out to gently graze his chest.

Lyon's eyes opened. He decided he liked what he saw.

He grabbed her outstretched hand and tugged her body close to him. She was clad in nothing but a black singlet and grey sweat shorts, and he was wearing nothing but a pineapple-patterned pair of sweatpants (long story). His arm curled around her tiny waist.

He smiled, amused, as Lucy's pale cheeks began to redden and her eyes widened. Her mouth opened to form a big 'O' and he was filled with a sudden longing to press his lips against hers. He couldn't blame himself; he was a young man with raging hormones, and she was the one who had started it.

"What are you doing?" Lucy stuttered. She found it ironic that she was protesting when seconds ago she had imagined something like this happening.

Lyon just snorted, amused and retorted: "The question more likely to be asked should be what were _you_ doing?"

He fought the urge to laugh as Lucy's face reddened some more. Her delicate features were really one in a million, he thought as he stared at the untamed beauty of her face. Her pale cheekbones, accentuated by her rosy soft-looking lips and her sexy sultry brown eyes just made him want to kiss her more.

She just laughed, unfazed, and put her small firm palms on his unblemished face.

"We'll see about that later." She winked at him and slid out of his grasp.

Lyon just shook his head at the beautiful girl and chuckled as she rolled out of bed and stood up, grinning at him. What on earth were they doing? He found himself wondering.

The attraction was undeniable when it came to the both of them. He was more than good-looking; she was the girl that nearly all the men in Magnolia desired. You really couldn't blame them for this. It was just a bit of fun, no?

* * *

Lucy sat in the bathroom, unsure of what to make of this.

_Did I just…? Yeah, I did…_ she bit her bottom lip, uncertain of what to do now.

She had been most surprised when Lyon had reacted accordingly to the movements and desires her body had shown. She had found being caught in his embrace was so wrong yet so right. What had she just gotten herself into?

_I guess it was just in the heat of the moment,_ she admitted. When two hot people have to sleep together, you're bound to end up with something like this, she chuckled to herself. She supposed it wasn't that bad. It wasn't like there were any strings attached.

And Lyon was a hell of a catch. She wondered how many girls had gotten this kind of treatment from Lyon. _Probably none,_ she smirked to herself, proud that she had been the first to have enjoyed his company this way.

She wrapped herself in her small white towel and strolled out of the bathroom, looking forward to the day ahead of her.

She saw Lyon eating the complimentary breakfast that must've been sent up by the inn staff while she was in the shower. Her mouth watered as she saw everything the old lady had described. She felt her spirits elate further as she saw that Lyon had only eaten exactly half of everything, leaving her more than enough to each portion of food. This was a considerate improvement to going on missions with Natsu, who would have just eaten everything on the table. What a real gentleman he was, realised Lucy, and she found herself gazing at him again. She realised he had nothing but his pants on and blushed. His pineapple pants were cute.

Lyon stared at her as she got out of the bathroom, his expression unreadable. She felt her neck heat up from the intensity of his gaze. Eventually, he had smiled at her and said:

"Good morning, Lucy."

"I had a pretty good morning." She winked at him, and she heard him chuckle.

Lucy chose a most impractical set of clothing for the day: a dainty white lace corset which made her desirable chest even more obvious and a pair of long black tights which just showed off her voluptuous behind even more. Her voluminous head of pale blonde hair was tamed for the day, loosely braided in a side braid over her shoulder.

Lyon felt his groin harden at the sight of Lucy's gorgeous body becoming more and more enticing with the revealing outfit she had chosen. _Damnit Lyon,_ he groaned and he had no choice but to turn away from the lovely view in order to remain the gentleman he was. He despised ruffians and so had always taught himself to be a proper man, especially in the presence of the fairer sex.

Circumstances, like these, however, did take a toll on his manhood…

Lucy smirked as she saw Lyon's face redden. She had chosen the outfit on purpose to mess around with him. She wondered what would happen that night if the mission proceeded well. Too bad that would have to wait till the mission was over; she couldn't afford to lose her focus.

She came out of the closet and crept up behind him, sliding her hands up his back and onto his shoulders. She said in her best seductive tone:

"Well, do you want to do our mission without a shirt on and distract me and affect the progress of the mission altogether, or do you want to get changed?"

Lyon shivered at her feather-light touch, and struggled to keep his manhood under check.

Lucy was going to get it tonight; he smirked as he tugged his comfy pineapple pants off and pulled on a pair of dark blue chinos and a plain white tee. Oh, she was going to get it good.

"Well, shall we get this done quickly so we can celebrate our victory with dinner tonight? It's on me." Lyon smirked playfully at her. This was the best sex he was ever going to have.

Lucy felt wetness in a certain area deepen, and she resisted the urge to pounce on Lyon. _Damn that man and his gentleman attitude, he makes it even harder for me to resist everything he does, _she whined. She figured she would just get her revenge tonight.

Lyon Vastia, you are in for one hell of a ride, she smirked.

* * *

They had tracked the meatball man's scent to a grassy hillside, where nothing but forest resided.

Lyon knelt on the ground and cast a spell; moments later, a puff of blue smoke rose, indicating that the man had last been there no longer than half an hour ago. If they could just find out where he went, they would have a good lead.

He informed Lucy, who solved the problem by summoning her Canis Minor spirit, a white little snowman-dog hybrid who sniffed out the remaining scent and run off deeper into the forest. They had no choice but to follow the little dog whom Lucy had christened Plue. He found the name rather endearing.

The dog paused outside of an old white-walled shack, and his face was evident of fear. He yelped and disappeared back into the spirit world.

Lyon raised an eyebrow at Lucy, who shrugged at her spirit's cowardly attitude and muttered: "He's not much of a fighter."

"Ah, I see." Lyon could sense the magic aura surrounding the small shack. No doubt there was where Gaston Jenks would be.

"So, what's the plan?" Lucy turned to Lyon, her face scrunched up in thought as they both debated awhile over battle tactics and strategies.

In the end, they decided that Lucy would summon Gemini to cause a distraction as Gemi-Lucy and Mini-Lyon, and Taurus and Scorpio to kill his steam. Finally, Lyon would sneak up behind the man and give the final attack, which was when Lucy would summon Horologium to trap him and make sure he couldn't escape.

"You ready?" Lyon asked her in concern, slightly worried that a delicate girl like her wouldn't be able to do so much.

Lucy grinned at him, excited.

"Hell yeah."

Lyon found himself considerably turned on at her feisty fighter attitude.

_Focus_, _Lyon_. He shook his head.

Lucy summoned Gemini, Taurus and Scorpio all at one go.

The three powerful spirits appeared in front of her, bowing respectively.

"Master Lucy." They murmured.

Lucy greeted them and explained her battle plans to the three spirits, who nodded in agreement. Lucy was an excellent master, they thought.

Gemini transformed into Lucy and Lyon, and threw themselves into a tussle with the only inhabitant of the shack.

In the meantime, Lyon scoped out the shack to make sure it was really the meatball man they were dealing with. Sure enough, Gaston Jenks was standing there in his underwear, startled but enraged. He started attacking Gemi-Lucy.

Irritated that Gaston was hurting Lucy's spirit, Lyon ordered Taurus and Scorpio to precede taking out the man.

"Yes, O' Lucy Master's new friend with benefits." Taurus had said with a glint in his eye. He had eyed Lyon suggestively before starting to attack the fat man like Lucy had ordered him to.

Lyon averted his gaze, feeling slightly violated that he had been referred to sexually by a weird bull-man hybrid that seemed to know his advances physically on Lucy.

_Man, Lucy's spirits are weird,_ he shook his head.

Lucy had hidden in place in some bushes behind the shack and was waiting for Lyon to give a signal so that she could summon Horologium without the fat man disappearing on them again.

Lyon waited with bated breath; so he had Gaston weakened enough first.

Seeing a gap in the game finally, Lyon pounced like a tiger marking its prey.

"Ice make: Ice blade, Seven Slice Dance!"

The blades lodged themselves into the armchair where Gaston used to be sitting, ineffective. Lyon grunted in frustration. For a fat man, he moved fast.

"Missed me so much, eh? Hologram, activate!" a bolt of white-hot light streaked past Lyon's face as he dodged it.

"I'll miss you more when you're safely in prison." Lyon muttered. He was confident he could finally finish the mission today; maybe because the reward was a possible night out with a certain blonde mage.

"Ice make: Bear!" Lyon's bear clawed the man, who unsuccessfully dodged the attack. His legs took impact of the hit, which made him collapse on the ground.

Lyon grinned, aware of the upper hand which he now had.

"Ice make: Prison!"

He tried to capture the man in a prison, which the man blasted out of using his light.

"Ice make: Sabertooth Tiger!"

He had never used that magic before. It was a conjuring form of magic, bringing to life a roaring tiger of ice, which hounded the enemy till it melted.

The tiger pounced on Gaston, who whimpered in terror. It roared in Gaston's face, signifying Lyon's dominance.

"Now, Lucy!" yelled Lyon.

"Open, gate of the Clockwork: Horologium!"

Gaston Jenks, Master of Light, was trapped successfully in the clockwork constellation.

"Yes!" Lucy cheered and high-fived Lyon. He just pulled her in for a hug.

"You were brilliant." He smiled down at Lucy, who was grinning up at him.

Lucy gave him a knowing look and got down to business, summoning Virgo to tie up the remaining bandits and sending a message to the magic council, informing them that the criminals had been caught.

Lyon just watched her, thinking to himself; _damn she's hot when she's all commando._

Since it was near dinner time, they trudged back to the inn to shower and head out for dinner at a fancy dining place that Lyon suggested. Lucy couldn't help but shiver in anticipation of the great night ahead of her.

* * *

Lyon sat comfortably in an armchair, facing the beautiful sunset view he could get from the window in the room they had rented.

He was dressed handsomely in a suit in the palest of greys, over a simple black dress shirt. The suit skimmed his hard muscled body, elaborating on all the right angles in his lean long figure. He wore the dress shirt unbuttoned, showing a slight peek of his tight and taut chest muscles. The air around him had been freshened with his evening cologne, smelling of ocean air and musk. On his feet were a pair of ebony black dress shoes, leather and cut beautifully to make him look all the sexier.

He was patiently waiting for Lucy, who was in the bathroom getting ready for their night out together at La Petit E Bon, an exclusive dinner place for mages only. Lyon had pulled a few strings to get a table there for the night.

Lucy emerged from the bathroom, and Lyon's eyes widened at the overwhelmingly attractive sight.

She twirled in her evening gown, and asked him shyly:

"What do you think?"

Lyon was at a loss for words. He merely gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, trying to summon words to describe how lovely she looked.

Lucy had always been attractive, but tonight she looked good enough to rival the goddess of love, Aphrodite herself.

She had on her curvaceous body an emerald green silk dress, skimming her curves beautifully. A threateningly low neckline kept her breasts from spilling out seductively, and tacked on her shoulders was a Greek style cape, in similar make of the dress, only in a deeper shade of the silky green colour. It covered her bare back, and on her feet she had the most fanciful pair of silk kitten heels which matched her pale ivory gloves.

She giggled at Lyon's astounded expression, knowing she looked good.

Lyon snapped out of it, and flashed a rare grin at Lucy, who cast him a bemused smile.

"Shall we?" she asked as he offered her his arm.

"After you."

Lyon smiled, and they set off to their dining place for the night.

* * *

Sting was walking home from the tuxedo shop, having successfully not found a good tux for the ball. After trying on too many, he had given up and decided that he would wait for Rogue to come back and go with him instead. He still had two days; surely it wouldn't be too late?

His stomach rumbled, and he decided in absence of Rogue, he would go some place nice for dinner tonight and treat himself in indulgence.

Sting showered and changed into a classic black crisp suit that he had for dinners like these. Underneath he wore a silky white shirt and on his feet were a pair of white dragon hide leather shoes, skilfully sewn together carefully, given to him by his old daddy dragon Weisslogia himself. Deciding against a tie for the night, he instead chose to wear a black bowtie, making him look dashingly vintage and classic. His earring glinting in the moonlight suggestively, he smirked as he checked his reflection in a passing store window.

_Boy, do I look good tonight_, he smirked. A group of girls walked past him and giggled as he strolled by, looking so suave and mysterious.

"Sting! Take me with you!" one of the bolder girls called out to him, and he turned his head to look at them, feeling his heart contract as he felt slightly uncomfortable.

_Why do I feel so uncomfortable? I used to do this all the time before I met Lucy, _he wondered.

Maybe that was the point, before he met Lucy he had been a player. But Lucy Heartfilia had changed him to a point that he was a whole different person now.

He shook the thought off his mind.

Tonight, was a night to let loose. No more thinking.

* * *

Lyon and Lucy were laughing their heads off at their conversation, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"Oh, god, Lyon." Lucy cried as she wiped a tear of mirth from her eye.

Lyon just smiled and chuckled some more.

She looked at him and cocked her head to one side.

"What are you thinking about?" Lyon asked her politely, smiling again.

"I was just thinking about how good you look in a suit." Lucy teased him boldly. The last time she had done something as fun as this… had been with Sting.

_I have to stop thinking about Sting,_ she chided herself. _Lyon is such a great guy._

But a small thought couldn't help but nag at her at the back of her mind:

_But for you, there is only Sting._

Lyon broke her chain of thought by replying her statement.

"I look better without it." He whispered into her ear, coming closer to her. She shivered in anticipation.

"You devil." She smiled at him, and they both laughed again, like they were sharing a private joke.

"Well, this is fun. Do you go out often?" Lyon carried on with the conversation, which was another reason Lucy found him so endearing. Not many guys could carry a conversation to the point where anything seemed to be nice to talk about.

"No, I haven't done this since…" _not since Sting,_ Lucy trailed off.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch the last part?"

"No, it was nothing. Say, are you going to be attending the Magnolia Ball?" Lucy changed the topic, eager to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"The Magnolia Ball? The prestigious one, exclusive for mages only? I received an invitation, but I don't have a partner to go with, and it wouldn't be fun going alone. As far as I've heard, none of the other Lamia Scale members are going, and it'll be mostly Fairy Tail members there as you make up most of the mages in Magnolia, and other mages from other states might be too lazy to travel."

Lucy found herself saying:

"Do you want to go with me then? I got an invitation too, and I figured I'd just go by myself, but it would be more fun to go with you. I get to annoy Gray." She grinned playfully and Lyon laughed again. Lucy didn't know that by inviting Lyon as her date for the night, she would end up doing more than annoying Gray.

"Alright Lucy, I guess I know what I'm doing this Saturday. Thank you for inviting me to be your date." He gently grasped her hand and kissed it softly, maintaining her impression of him being nothing but a real gentleman. Lucy felt a blush coming on.

Lyon had been giving her a great time, soft-spoken, well mannered and seductive with his gentleman charm and soft sexy smiles. She felt nothing in her heart though, but this didn't concern her. Lyon was merely a good friend, she smirked to herself. _Too good._

* * *

Sting wasn't enjoying his food as much as he thought he would be. His thoughts kept straying back to Lucy, and he found it hard to concentrate on everything else.

He found himself getting up and pacing off to the restroom to splash water repeatedly on his face, his heart getting the better of his thoughts.

As his face surfaced from the water, he felt a pang in his heart.

_Lucy… ugh, god, I miss her._

_She's gone,_ he reminded himself.

Harshly he reprimanded himself, reminding himself countless times that Lucy wasn't his anymore, she had moved on, he ought to do the same.

After deciding that his feelings were under check, he strolled back out of the restroom only to have the thin wall trapping his feelings shatter in an instant as the scene before him unfolded.

In front of him was Lyon Vastia, standing next to Lucy, who was smiling as he whispered something into her ear and she giggled. They appeared to be getting up to leave the restaurant already.

_What the fuck?_ He felt his heart sink and shatter on the floor.

Not only did Lucy look so heavenly ravishing tonight, but the fact that she had wanted to look this way for someone else was slowly eating its way into his heart. And why of all times did she have to turn up now?

He peered to see who the guy was. His heart sank further as he saw Lyon holding her hand and guiding her to the exit. They were both smiling and talking about something.

_Vastia_, he growled. His heart sinking rapidly, he disappeared behind a pillar so that Lucy wouldn't see him. He didn't notice the tears that were fighting their way harshly into his stormy blue eyes.

He waited till they were out of the restaurant, slammed some money onto his table and rushed out of the restaurant, his thoughts too muddled for him to think straight.

Stopping in a dark alleyway, he knelt down on his knees, not caring that his suit was going to be soiled, and broke down completely.

All his hidden feelings and thoughts that had been crammed into his head finally flooded out with the tears that came as he sobbed uncontrollably.

_I love you Lucy_, he sobbed.

_I can't stop loving you. _

_I need you in my life._

Why is she with another guy? He wondered, anguished. His sobbing increased with that painful thought as the tears streamed down his porcelain skin and onto the dirty ground.

The tears formed a small pool at his feet.

His face was scrunched up as he tried to let the gaping hole in his heart have some breathing room.

_God, this fucking hurts_, thought Sting.

* * *

Lucy was having a brilliant night so far. Lyon was walking her back to the inn, and she shivered in anticipation of the prospects of Lyon and her in bed looming so close to her already.

She shivered, and Lyon wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close in an embrace to give her warmth.

"Here." He mumbled into her ear softly. "Is that better?"

She nuzzled into his neck, comfortable and basking in his warmth as they stood in front of the inn.

"Very." She whispered in her best seductive tone.

They made their way into the inn quickly, as conservative as they could be.

They climbed up the stairs slowly, silently making their way to their room door.

Lyon unlocked the door, pushed it open and bowed.

"Ladies first." He gestured for Lucy to go in first, and she giggled.

She walked in, unclasping her cloak first and placing it carefully on the armchair. She didn't want it to be ruined in all the upcoming… movement she would be doing.

She felt Lyon's breath, hot on her neck as his hands slid around her waist, roaming slowly. Her breath halted as she felt the tingle of his hands on her. They looked out into the window, marvelling at the peaceful view they had in front of them.

She reached up behind her neck to touch his face, marvelling at his smooth skin and rubbing the back of her head against the nape of his neck, dropping tender kisses around his neck and collarbone. Lyon smirked. It was going to be a sleepless night for the both of them.

She turned around to face him, her hands roving under his suit jacket, sliding it off his shoulders. His hands slid down her back and stopped just above her ass, his palms warm against her bare back.

"What do you want to do now?" he whispered into her ear.

"I'm guessing you have a pretty good idea."

She closed her eyes as Lyon crashed his lips against hers.

"Damnit Lucy." murmured Lyon as he felt her hands unhooking his belt. That girl was like a lioness in bed. His hands quickly unzipped her dress and slid it off her body. Now nothing was left on her body except her lacy lingerie.

Lucy was considerably aroused now. She unbuttoned his shirt and yanked it off, moaning as she felt his rough hands grab her breasts, slithering under her bra and squeezing her sensitive soft mounds of flesh.

"Lyon…" she mumbled, her breath hot against his mouth. Her fingers roved down to his pants, which she tugged off in no time. Now he had nothing but a pair of pineapple patterned blue boxers on him.

They both stood in the middle of the room, tangling with each other's tongues as they explored each other.

Lyon decided to progress with the foreplay. Hooking his fingers on the sides of Lucy's lacy g-string, he pulled it down swiftly and slid his cold hands back up to slap around her thighs. Lucy gasped at the sudden motion. Feeling even more sexually aroused, she reached into the gap in his boxers and started rubbing his manhood, back and forth in firm hard strokes.

Lyon growled, turned on by the sudden aggressiveness. He grabbed Lucy's legs and placed them around his waist. She clung on to his body as he carried her to the bed, licking around her soft firm breasts, making her area even wetter with desire.

On the bed, the sexual tension escalated.

They were both naked now; their clothes and undergarments lain on the floor in small heaps around the room. Lucy kept stroking his manhood; she knew he was getting impatient. She gasped as he put his teeth around her pert nipple, giving it a soft bite and licking it like it was a lollipop. She moaned loudly in pleasure.

Lyon felt himself go crazy with pleasure as he heard Lucy's first moan. Taking care to ensure that one hand was still rubbing her nipples, his other hand reached down to penetrate her lower parts.

Lucy arched her back in arousal and groaned even louder on the bed as Lyon slid his fingers into her wet area; she grabbed his manhood and stroked it faster and harder in response.

Lyon smiled a small smile in satisfaction as he felt Lucy grip his hips in desire. He rubbed her area, increasing speed as he went in and out, steadily pumping her with pleasure and sweet arousal. She was so wet…

Lucy moaned even louder as Lyon fingered her roughly, three fingers roughly shoving in and out of her wetness swiftly and such a change from his usual soft manner, making her cry out:

"Oh, Lyon!" she arched her back again, making him lean down to lick her wet folds to pacify her needs.

Lyon felt even more satisfaction as she cried out his name.

He dove into the folds with pleasure; his tongue lapping up all the salty liquid that was emerging from the beautiful girl. She cried out again:

"Ngggghh~ Lyon!"

Lucy was on the verge of ecstasy now. She could feel the climax coming, and that was when Lyon suddenly stopped.

"Lyon! Don't stop! Oh gods… please don't stop…"

"Beg me." He whispered with seductiveness.

Lucy growled in arousal. Who did he think he was?

She grabbed his manhood and put in into her mouth in one swift move, shoving it in and out of her wet mouth roughly, with as much strength as she could, rubbing and licking and sucking all at one go. Lyon gripped her hair in arousal.

_She's bloody rough and I like it._

His fingers grabbed Lucy's breasts in desire, and he cried out as he felt the peak of his climax arriving, and Lucy suddenly stopped all her movements, pushing his manhood out of her mouth, smirking with satisfaction as she had her sweet moment of revenge on Lyon for asking her to beg him.

Lyon growled and grabbed her hips in arousal, and his rock-hard manhood was shoved in sweet ecstasy into her wet area. He thrust as hard as he could again and again, earning screams after scream of sweet pleasure from the blonde.

Lucy's mouth was kept open as she was continuously injected with pleasure by Lyon's thrusting. She had never had such great sex in her life. Her cavern was being explored to its maximum by Lyon, who knew exactly how to stretch his tempo, going fast then slowing down then suddenly thrusting in hard again, making her scream as he hit her g-spot again and again.

The smell of sex was high in the air. Pulling out, Lyon roughly flipped her over so that her back was facing him, and he shoved his hard member into her wet folds from behind, which earned him louder moans and screams from the blonde girl.

"LYON! OH! DON'T STOP! OH~~~" came the shrieks of Lucy, who was experiencing sweet, sweet torture.

Lucy was bent over, and she watched her sweat roll off her body in sequence as Lyon pounded her body over and over again with the ultimate skill and tempo. She felt her moment of release coming.

Lyon switched the pace for one last position; he just rolled under her so that she was on his lap, but his manhood still inside of her.

He began thrusting so hard that Lucy had to grip onto his neck from the front, her fingernails cutting into his skin as she gripped him tightly in deep pleasure. Lucy's legs were crossed around his muscled lean waist, so that he could have maximum penetration.

"Lyon! Ohhhh~ Lyon!" she screamed in ecstasy as her moment of release came, the hot liquid spurting everywhere, including his legs. She bit his neck in release, leaving a deep pink bruise.

But Lyon wasn't done just yet.

He flipped her over yet again so he was on top of her, her legs around his naked waist yet once more. He thrust in deeply one final time, and he released his hot white liquid out of her body, on the sheets so that Lucy didn't have to worry about getting pregnant.

Not caring that the sheets were stained with gross bodily fluids, they laid on the bed, panting in exhaustion from the great sex.

"That… was great." Lucy panted.

"Of course it was. I have a feeling my neck's gonna have marks tomorrow; in fair exchange you won't be able to walk properly." He grinned mischievously at her, who just laughed and whacked his chest in a friendly manner. She left her hand lying on his chest comfortably; Lyon's hands roved to grope her naked ass once more. She didn't protest.

"Don't get too cocky now, Lyon Vastia." She warned him, wagging a finger in front of him, which just made him chuckle even more.

"Ah, goodnight Lucy. See you tomorrow in the morning."

"Goodnight, Lyon."

Lyon and Lucy slept with their bodies tangled together, not caring that they were naked; they had just had a great night of sex.

* * *

**God that was a long chapter. **

**I'm sorry if that was a disturbing lemon. My thoughts betray me. **

**If you want to see what Lucy's green dress resembles, click this link down below:**

. /imgres?biw=1280&bih=655&tbm=isch&tbnid=qCvvw4zVwFcKaM:&imgrefurl= tag/pan-am/&docid=V2QJN0-f1OLELM&imgurl= .com

**Its from the TV show Pan Am, worn by Kate in one of her spying attempts. That's a great show by the way. Do watch it :B**

**So... was the lemon too gross? hahaha. I've changed the rating to M btw, so you know that you're breaking the rules by reading this.**

**Next chapter: Rogue plans to do something about his misery-filled best friend. Cana decides to get involved. WOOHOO GO BEST FRIENDS! this is why bff support is important. ^^v**

**Review my lovelies!**

**xoxo, Jelisse**


	8. Chapter 8: The Consequence

**Review Replies for Chapter 7!**

**AngelXReaper: i dont want to kill Lyon hehehe he's too gorgeous c: but StiLu is otw! enjoy this chappie in the meantime!**

**alycat63: i generally like GraLu and StiLu, and the good LyLus hehehe. Enjoy this chap :)**

**Write-A-Rainbow: thank you again :) RoNa is undecided yet but maybe in progress whehehehehe stay tuned ;)**

**MissAMira: hahaha, gosh i feel bad now. Sting is otw to get Lucy back! Have no fear, Sting Eucliffe is here! that was lame hahahaha but here's the new chap anyways :B enjoy!**

**SimplyIsabelleS: breaking Sting's heart kinda breaks mine too :( but we cant have the good without the bad, hehehe ;) StiLu is coming! stay tuned!**

**Aquos35: im glad you like it :0 here's the latest. enjoy!**

**GUYS THANKS FOR BEING SO PATIENT WITH THE LATEST UPDATE.**

**my mom took away my laptop for awhile so... yeah. sorry :c **

**hope you guys enjoy the latest!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Consequence**

Sting woke up on his couch, head throbbing painfully as he realised he had a hangover from his heavy drinking the previous night.

He sighed. He felt just as much of a mess as he looked. His shirt was missing; he had slept with only his soiled suit pants on. His black jacket was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, stained with vodka. He cursed. That was an expensive suit, and the only one he had. He checked his dragon-hide shoes, but thankfully they seemed intact.

On the floor laid two vodka bottles, one half full and the other empty. The entire room smelled strongly of alcohol. The carpet had an alcohol stain. He groaned in depression. Rogue was going to kill him.

Just his luck, Rogue walked in through the door as he had just gotten up to start cleaning the mess.

Sting gulped.

Shocking him, Rogue hadn't said a word, but slowly helped him clean up the mess after observing how much of a mess he looked. He was dirty and his eyes were bloodshot from the crying and alcohol. He smelled like a sewer mixed with alcohol. Rogue had merely sighed and started cleaning up the mess.

After they were done cleaning the room, Rogue guided his half-awake friend into the bathroom and filled the bathtub with warm water and told him to wash up. Too bleary-eyed to say anything, Sting had just listened to his friend and took a bath.

Sting had also vomited thoroughly from the after effect of the vodka. After that, he vowed he would never get drunk again.

Sting got out of the bath smelling of daisy scented soap (courtesy of Rogue), dressed in a fresh pair of sweatpants and a light cotton shirt, his hair dripping wet. Rogue was sitting at the dining table, staring at him.

"Sit down." Rogue gestured. On the table was a simple plate of scrambled eggs and buttered toast, along with a glass of piping hot milk.

Sting sat down, looking apologetic.

"Rogue, I'm sorry about the mess-"

"It's quite alright. Just eat first, the food's getting cold. We need to talk when you're done."

Sting had not thought twice and gulped down the food and drink in less than two minutes, not pausing to ponder over what Rogue had just said.

When he was done, he walked over to the couch where his friend was sitting. Rogue had a few words for him.

"Look, Sting… ever since you ran into Lucy in Hargeon, you haven't quite been yourself lately. You've been staring off into space blankly, spacing out when people talk to you, and you've been mumbling in your sleep, from what Lector has been telling Fro. There's no need to deny it," he raised a hand to silence Sting, who had opened his mouth to protest greatly. "It's really obvious that you still love Lucy very much. I've never been in love, but it doesn't take much for someone to look at you and realise that you're going through a lot of pain."

Sting opened his mouth and closed it again. He closed his eyes as he slowly let the truth sink into him, and it pierced his heart once again. Yes, he still loved Lucy. No, there was no point pretending it didn't matter anymore.

"There's no point trying to get something out of it Rogue. She's with Lyon Vastia now; I saw them yesterday at that dinner place down the road. They looked good together." Sting croaked in sadness, his voice cracking in the end. To him, it hurt worse than any physical attack he would ever receive.

Rogue sighed at his friend's downcast appearance.

"Hmm. Lyon Vastia you say? I went on a mission with him once. He isn't the type to make commitment like this. I don't think he's in a relationship with Lucy." Rogue muttered softly, deep in thought. Why had Lucy gone out with Lyon Vastia? They weren't even in the same guild.

"That's because you didn't see them. They were holding hands, laughing, and her smile…" Sting's voice croaked, a sad little smile appearing on his face.

"She just… she looked so happy. I… I haven't seen her like that in awhile."

Rogue frowned. Something didn't add up. From what he knew, Lucy wasn't the type to take dating lightly with other men like what she seemed to be doing with Lyon now. Something wasn't quite right.

"Don't jump to any conclusions just yet, Sting. Wait for me at home today, and don't do anything stupid. Spend some time with Lector; he's been missing you lately. I'm going out for awhile to investigate something. Cook your own lunch."

Rogue got up to leave.

"Hey, wait! But I can't cook!" Sting protested as Rogue left. Rogue hadn't heard him protest and he had already left, unfortunately for Sting.

"Thanks a lot." muttered Sting, irritated with Rogue's mysterious attitude.

* * *

Rogue waltzed his way silently to the Fairy Tail guild. He wanted to speak with someone; the last time he had seen Lucy, he had known that only one of her friends had known about her and Sting; Cana Alberona, the weird drunken girl.

As he hid in a tree outside the building, he cast a shadow spell over the guild. It was similar to a walkie-talkie device; now he could hear all the people talking inside the guild. He focused his shadows on one person in particular: none other than Lucy Heartfilia herself.

He found her talking to Mirajane, the sweet-looking she-devil.

"So… how was your mission with that gorgeous boy Lyon?" he heard Mira tease Lucy.

"Ah, it was alright…" he could hear her chuckle in the background. _What was so amusing?_ He wondered, curious.

"Don't lie to me Lucy! I saw you two! He hugged you goodbye! Do you like him?" Mira sounded excited. Rogue frowned at this.

"Ah, okay, I'll admit it." _Admit what?_ Wondered Rogue.

"We… went out for dinner after the mission."

Rogue fell out of his tree in shock. What did he just hear?

Quickly, he scrambled back up the tree, careful to keep his cover so that he wouldn't be spotted by any Fairy Tail members. The last thing he wanted was to blow his cover.

"What?!" he heard two other girls join the conversation. _Well this is interesting_, he admitted. It was kinda fun spying on the girls, more fun than a morning with a currently gloomy Sting anyway.

"It was nothing serious, Erza." He heard Erza clank a sword in disapproval.

"It was just dinner. Nothing more." He heard Lucy assured her friends, evidently terrified that the mighty Titania would hunt down the ice mage and grant him a death wish.

"It better be." He heard Erza mutter. He heard the topic change to something else less heated, and he withdrew his shadows, deep in thought.

"Well this is interesting." He muttered to himself. He scanned the guild from above, and he spotted Cana, drinking a huge barrel of ale. _Who drinks this early in the day?_ He wondered, slightly astounded.

He conjured up a shadow minion to alert Cana of his presence, who saw it and dropped her barrel of ale and fell off her table. She looked up confused, to see Rogue waving at her. Curiosity getting the better of her, she slipped out of the guild without anyone noticing and met him outside.

"What the hell are you doing here, Cheney? Do you want to start a fight, standing there like that?" she had yelled at him.

"Keep your voice down, you're the one who's going to start a fight… I was going to suggest we go some place more secluded, so that people won't spot us talking."

"What if I don't trust you?" Cana eyed him suspiciously.

Rogue just sighed. "It's about Lucy. And Sting," he uttered in a bored tone. "They've been behaving… weird. Can we talk now?"

Cana had nodded and brought Rogue to a nearby forest clearing.

"First of all: is Lucy dating anyone currently?"

Cana had raised an eyebrow questioningly and replied him.

"No, she isn't. She's single, and definitely not mingling. She keeps going on and on about how getting the most out of her life at the moment is important, how we should live life to the fullest, yada yada yada. I love the girl, but I can tell it's just a cover up, and I'm not gonna lie to you. I know she still has feelings for your dragon boy, but getting her to fess up is harder than getting me to stop drinking."

Rogue questioned her again:

"What about Lyon Vastia?"

Cana had simply stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Him?" she continued laughing, and Rogue just stood there, patiently waiting for her to stop and answer his question.

Finally, she halted her laughter.

"They just had dinner, that's all. She's a bountiful girl; every guy who sees her wants a go at her sexy little body. Is it wrong that she finally chose to indulge for once? I've been telling her to date already; once in awhile, it's really fun. Releases all your stress, you know?"

Rogue had simply stared at the dark-haired beauty.

_Lucy sure has weird friends_, he thought to himself.

"So… they just had dinner, nothing more?"

Cana shook her head. Lucy evidently hadn't told anyone that she had had sex with the ice mage...

"She still likes Sting?"

Cana nodded her head.

"Would she get back with him if he asked her to?"

Cana had simply stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable, before sighing once.

"I believe that's a question you and I both have no idea how to answer."

Rogue agreed with her on this one.

"Look, why are you asking me all this anyway? It's not like you've never seen them together…" Cana shook her head, sighing again. "I don't know what happened to them. They used to make me want to fall in love…"

"Believe me, I know." Rogue muttered. "I was asking all this, because, well you didn't hear this from me, but Sting is in a right state. Ever since he ran into Lucy a few days ago, he hasn't been himself at all. I found him drunk silly this morning, half-naked on the couch. The guy's tearing himself apart." Rogue shook his head, evidently worried about his friend.

Cana bit her lip, knowing how he felt. She had been worried one too many times about Lucy, the same way. She could tell when Lucy was doing her fake smile thing, and the fact that she sensed it a lot more than usual this morning was bothering her.

"Well, what should we do about it? Now that we know how they feel… do you have any ideas?"

Cana's wicked side had thought of something, and she had smiled mischievously before saying:

"Okay, so here's the plan…"

"Uh-huh…"

"Yeah, so all you have to do is get him to come."

"Come where?"

"The Magnolia Ball this coming Saturday…"

"Yes… isn't Vastia taking her already?"

"That doesn't mean we can't take her away."

Rogue reluctantly smiled at the last part. He decided he rather liked this girl, regardless of how weird she was.

They had ended up plotting longer than they expected, and by the time they were done their stomachs were growling with hunger as it was already past lunchtime.

"Well, I'll see you Saturday then." She had smirked and run off, back to her guild.

Rogue shook his head, the plan to get their friends back together brimming fresh in his mind. Cana Alberona sure was a crazy girl.

Although, she was pretty hot… he smirked to himself. Maybe this Saturday would turn out better than expected, he thought.

* * *

Sting was panicking a bit. Rogue still wasn't back, and he was waiting for him to come back so they could go tuxedo shopping, otherwise he would have nothing to wear for the Ball; literally nothing, as his only suit was soiled and would not be ready in time for Saturday. Buying a tuxedo tomorrow would be a bad idea, as last minute buyers tend to get the worst quality stock.

He had spent the day relaxing at home, playing with Lector and Fro. He had ordered a pizza for lunch and finished it all by himself, a feat he was rather proud of. Other than that, he hadn't accomplished anything else. It was already 3 in the afternoon.

_Where the heck is Rogue?_ He wondered.

Rogue had returned at 4, giving them two hours to sprint to the formal wear stores and find something suitable for Saturday.

"Why... were you… so late?" panted Sting as they practically ran to the store.

"Was… investigating… something. Tuxedo's first… talk, later." Rogue panted back.

Sting browsed the store, his mind in a tussle over which tux to wear. Rogue had instantly decided on a classic black and white number, complete with a bowtie and silver button cufflinks. He had also bought a pair of simple black leather dress shoes.

Sting's eye lingered on one particular number.

He pulled it off its hanger, considering it.

It was a plain white tuxedo, complete with a pale grey bowtie and a vest of a similar grey. Sting had decided it would go well with his dragon-hide shoes, and to add class to his ensemble he purchased dark blue sapphire square cufflinks, and a new earring of a similar shade.

After paying for their purchases, Sting asked Rogue again on where he had been.

"I was in Magnolia, investigating Lucy."

Sting's jaw dropped and he resisted the urge to sock Rogue in the face. What the hell did he think he was doing?

"Wait, before you hit me, I found out that she's still single. She's not with that Vastia guy."

Sting's jaw dropped even wider. What?

"But-" Rogue cut him off. "Yeah, I know, you saw them together. They were just playing around, it was nothing serious. Lucy is going with him to the Magnolia Ball though."

If possible, Sting felt even more confused than before.

"Then why are you telling me this?" Sting asked gloomily, the corners of his mouth drooping a little.

"Because…" Rogue explained his plan to Sting, and he looked at his friend, wide-eyed.

"You think I can do… that?" he asked Rogue incredulously.

Rogue nodded. "I talked to her friend, Cana. She's going to take care of it for you. All you have to do is show up on time."

Sting nodded slowly, trying to process the total complexity of what his best friend was telling him to do in order to win back the love of his life.

* * *

Lucy was lying down on her bed, alone. She was sore from her previous night's activity (ahem) and was having her period, so she was just listening to soothing music and calming herself down.

Her thoughts roamed to Sting again. They had been doing that a lot lately, ever since they met and fought together in Hargeon.

She wondered what he was doing now.

She wondered if he was thinking of her as much as she was thinking of him.

She sighed. _It kind of hurts, but I've dulled the pain,_ she thought to herself.

She knew there was no going back to Sting. Not after that letter…

She counted the number of guys she had had sex with. Sting, Lyon. That brought her total count up to two. Not a lot, but it was a lot to her.

She started comparing the two guys' sexual prowess and abilities, much to her resulting in a huge full force blush as she recalled all the lusty memories.

Lyon had been better physically, she supposed, but only Sting could give her the thrilled rush of making real love.

She sighed. She probably wasn't going to get that kind of rush with any other guy, she figured sadly. She hugged her pillow close to her, feeling the familiar wave of longing and sadness for Sting's presence wash over her once more.

She missed him dearly, as much as she didn't want to admit it.

She wished he was still with her.

"Sting…" she fell asleep mumbling his name, an image of his handsome face etched in her mind, running in her dreams.


	9. Chapter 9: The Plan

**Review Replies for the previous chapter:**

**Eeveexme: we'll just have to keep reading and see :P thank you for the review! hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**SimplyIsabelleS: hehehehe well maybe side pairing then :B enjoy this chapter!**

**FairyTailWolf6: you'll find out in this chapter :) thank you for the review!**

**MissAMira: they're kinda cute together here arent they. :p**

**AngelXReaper: hahaha yes they do thats what im aiming for, glad you think so :)**

**puckingrainbows: hahahaha. maybe. maybe not. we'll have to see ;)**

**ARIGATO FOR ALL THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS AND FAVOURITES EVERYONE. YOU MAKE MY DAY. EVERYDAY.**

** ENJOY!**

**Chapter 9 – The Plan**

Lucy was out with Cana for the night, dining at a nearby vegan café, The Greenery, discussing the following night's plans excitedly as they imagined the grandness of the Magnolia Ball that was looming close by.

"Oh, I can't wait for tomorrow night!" squealed Lucy excitedly.

"But you're going to be with Lyon." Cana pretended to pout and look annoyed. _It's all_ _part of the plan,_ she thought devilishly, slowly carrying out the first phase of her master plan.

Cana's great plan, was to pretend that she was with Sting for the night, distract Lyon away with a little whoops-a-daisy, bring him far away enough from Lucy and Sting, maybe seduce him if it meant they got more time together (though she hoped she wouldn't have to resort to that), and Sting would dance with her and hopefully confess to her all over again, and then they would be together again. The other complications like for example explaining to the whole world would be dealt with later.

"Oh, relax, Cana. He's just a friend. He won't stay for long; and we have the whole night ahead of us." Lucy tried to reassure her best friend that she wasn't going to spend her night alone.

"Just a friend my ass, I'm just friends with Jet and Droy, you don't see me having dinner with them now do you?" Cana had earlier decided to use the reverse psychology tactic on Lucy, trying to get her to admit that she felt nothing with Lyon, and vice versa getting her to realise and eventually admit that Sting was her one true love; but that plan wouldn't be able to progress till the ball was actually in motion.

Lucy fidgeted. Cana usually wasn't up her ass like this. Was she up to something?

She shook the thought out of her head. No, she bit her lip. She supposed she was just thinking too much lately, especially since that night she spent with Lyon. Honestly, she felt a little guilty having done it with a guy that she had no feelings for. Would Sting have done it? She had questioned herself after Lyon had walked her back to the guild.

_Maybe_ was the most rational answer. Everyone knew Sting had a bad attitude. But the Sting she knew… she just couldn't bring herself to believe that that Sting would do something like that.

But she had done it first… she had committed the first crime… wouldn't that make her the guilty one?

_After everything he did to you, he deserves it,_ her head argued with her conscience.

She frowned. Sting had treated her badly, but did he deserve this?

_You shouldn't have done this,_ a small voice inside her head said quietly. _Sting might owe you, but you've just made it so you owe him too._

Lucy cringed at that thought.

"Earth to Lucy." Cana snapped two fingers in front of Lucy's face, acting her part of the sassy best friend.

"So what are you wearing tomorrow?" Cana asked her casually, sipping at her chilled green tea soy latte.

"It's a surprise." Lucy winked, not wanting to reveal what she had in store for the great night ahead of them.

"Oh c'mon Luce, I tell you everything."

"You haven't told me what you were wearing either." Lucy stuck her tongue out at Cana, who just pretended to pout and look sad.

"Well then I guess we'll both keep it a secret till tomorrow night then." winked Cana.

Lucy just chuckled and the two mages continued having their pleasant dinner, unaware that a certain creature was watching their every move.

* * *

"ROGUE!"

That was the sound of Sting Eucliffe's voice, the panic arising from it as he rummaged through the entire house, making a huge mess of it along the way. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find his special dragon-hide dress shoes that Weisslogia had made especially for him.

Rogue, who was in the middle of his late dinner, paused his chewing and strode out of the kitchen, gaping at the huge mess Sting was creating. He just sighed and hit his forehead lightly with his palm at his best friend's recklessness and tried not to strangle him.

"Yes, Sting?"

"Have you seen my shoes? I swear they were just there a minute ago! Ugh! I'm getting a headache from all this! And my tux, we haven't gotten it from the dry cleaner's yet! And should I wear my new earring?" wailed Sting. Obviously, he was nervous about the big night tomorrow.

Rogue tried very hard not to laugh at Sting's nerves that were getting the better of him. It had always been just a ball to him for the past few years, but this year it was going to be different, as the presence of one stellar spirit mage had decided.

Rogue spotted the white shoes instantly.

They were on Sting's feet.

"Um, Sting?" Rogue nodded his head in the direction of Sting's feet. Sting looked down in between his legs.

"Oh."

Sting felt a hot flush of embarrassment slide its way onto his face.

"Thanks Rogue. Sorry." He mumbled, too embarrassed to say anything.

"Nervous aren't you?" commented Rogue.

"No!" retorted Sting, feeling his face grow even hotter. There was no way he was going to admit that his nerves were getting the better of him.

Rogue just chuckled and went back to the kitchen.

"The plan is simple. You just have to follow through… that crazy best friend of her's, Cana; she had it all in her head. Its crazy, but it's brilliant. That girl's like a mad scientist." shrugged Rogue. "You have no reason to be nervous."

"I know, it's just…" Sting sighed. He was admittedly a nervous wreck.

"Calm yourself. Its tomorrow night. You'll be fine."

"I hope so."

Shortly after, Sting returned from the dry-cleaner's with his crispy clean and pressed-to-perfection white suit.

Hanging it behind his bedroom door, Sting slumped on his bed, feeling worse than he looked. He was terrified something would go wrong, and he wouldn't be able to win back his darling Lucy.

The plan was simple; but simple didn't mean easy.

The more he thought, the more things that could go wrong appeared in his head, threatening to mess with his mind. He pushed them away eventually, wondering what was wrong with him.

_Stop it_, he chided himself. The great Sting Eucliffe, White Dragon Slayer. What was to become of him if Lucy kept eating at his thoughts like this?

Lector jumped on his bed to cuddle up warmly next to him in the nook of his shoulder, snuggling in safely.

"Sting-kun, what's the matter? You seem worried."

Sting didn't look at Lector, but continued gazing at the ceiling, lost in thought.

His mind was reeling back to their first date.

* * *

"_Where are you taking me, Sting?" Lucy was giggling as Sting had blindfolded her and was guiding her by hand to a place he wanted her to see. They had just finished dinner somewhere in Magnolia not long ago._

"_For a girl you sure are impatient." joked Sting. "Shhh, we're almost there just, keep walking."_

_They reached the venue, and Sting permitted Lucy to remove her blindfold._

_He remembered hearing her gasp; audibly clear to his intense dragon-hearing ability._

"_Sting! It's beautiful! Oh, I've never seen anything like it!"_

_His beloved Lucy was standing in the middle of what seemed to be a town square, where a lively carnival was taking place. On the floor was a giant picture painted by what must've been the town artists, using coloured grain and glue. Lucy stood in the middle of it, her eyes big with wonder and delight._

_It was a giant magnolia, incorporated skilfully with many loops and twirls alongside it, symbolizing the many bonds the vast country had. The petals of the flowers were multicoloured, each displaying a certain pride of the town. _

_Of one of the petals, there was a big white one which showed the Fairy Tail insignia, big bold and a lovely pale pink. It wasn't the biggest petal, but Sting knew to Lucy it would certainly shine the brightest, which was why he had brought her to see this in the first place._

"_You like it?" he asked nervously. _

_Lucy surprised him with a huge kiss on the cheek, which made him blush a severe shade of red. _

"_I absolutely love it Sting. There's nothing in this world which could compare with what you've shown me tonight."_

_Sting had just grinned and pulled her in for a big warm hug, relishing in each moment they got to spend with each other, as moments like these were hard to find, for they were at stake of being caught in the act together by their opposing guilds or even the magic council, which would certainly question their bond together._

_They had spent the rest of the night walking around, having fun at the carnival, when Sting had stopped at a live concert being held in a field, part of the festival._

"Give it up for, the Five Muses!"

_Sting had pulled her into the crowd, simply wanting to dance with her for the first time, forgetting that he didn't know how to dance._

"_Sting, everyone's staring at us." she had whispered nervously to him. Everyone was actually just in awe of what an adorable couple they made, and curious on why they were together._

"Isn't that Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail?"

"Look its Sting Eucliffe!"

"What are they doing together? I thought their guilds were rivals?"

"Who would've thought they'd make a cute couple?"

"Imagine the babies they'd make!"

_Lucy and Sting had simultaneously glared at the person who had said the last one._

_Meanwhile, the lead singer got on stage and introduced himself as Adam Levine. (Sound familiar?) _

"_Hello, Magnolia! How're you all doing tonight?"_

_The crowd cheered boisterously, for this band was popular throughout Fiore._

"_Its okay, Lucy. I don't care. I want everyone to see my girlfriend." Sting had smiled at her. He remembered her smiling back warmly, and interlocking her fingers with his tightly, both knowing that nothing would tear them apart, even though this was only their first date._

_The band had begun to perform. A few guitar chords here and there, a steady drumbeat came on the audio lacrimas surrounding the crowd, and the beat took on a slow melodious tone. Couples started to slow dance around them._

_Lucy had placed her arms around his neck, and Sting had instinctively placed his around her waist, and they had started to sway slowly to the music too, both blushing red and nervous, trying their hardest not to look foolish in each other's company._

"_I'm not much of a dancer…" he recalled her mumbling bashfully._

"_Nonsense. You're the most amazing dancer I've met." Which he supposed was true, since he had never even been to a dance before._

_He remembered her grinning like a child and tightening her hold around his neck, making his skin tingle with the close contact._

Every night, she cried herself to sleep,

Thinking why does this happen to me?

Why does every moment have to be so hard?

Hard to believe, but

It's not over tonight,

Just give me one more chance to make it right,

I may not make it through the night,

But I won't go home without you.

_He recalled Lucy gazing up at him, and he felt electrified at the passion in which her expression was giving off, the jolts coming to his body a mere significance of how enamoured they were already with each other. He remembered feeling as if he never wanted to let go of her, wanting to keep this moment lasting forever._

Of all the things I felt but never really shown  
Perhaps the worst is that I ever let you go  
I should not ever let you go, oh oh oh

_Sting had gazed down at her tenderly. He remembered gently placing his head in the nook of her shoulder, and burying it there when he found her consenting to this movement. He remembered taking in her scent for the first time, smelling of warm toast and strawberries and vanilla ice cream and many more wonderful things to come. He had fallen in love with her scent immediately, completely raptured.  
_  
It's not over tonight  
Just give me one more chance to make it right  
I may not make it through the night  
I won't go home without you

It's not over tonight  
Just give me one more chance to make it right  
I may not make it through the night  
I won't go home without you  
And I won't go home without you  
And I won't go home without you  
And I won't go home without you

_The song slowly came to an end._

_They took a glance at each other, not wanting the beautiful moment to end._

"_Sting?"_

"_Lucy."_

"_I… I don't wanna go."_

"_I don't wanna go home either." _

_And that was when their lips had met._

_It had been like a great, fiery fire burning up his soul, so powerful and brutally striking him in the heart, leaving a burning mark on his soul._

_The impact of the kiss had left him utterly breathless._

* * *

"Lucy… I hope the plan works out tomorrow…" he muttered to himself. Lector, ignored by Sting, had fallen asleep next to him, curled in a ball adorably.

He wanted to see her again. He wanted her presence to relight that burning fire in his world again, the fire only she could produce for him over and over again.

He missed her terribly.

Suddenly, a thought sprang to his head like a fish out of water, and he jumped up like lightning had zapped him in the butt.

"Rogue! Rogue! Wake up! I need to talk to you!"

He hammered relentlessly on his best friend's door, forgetting for once that disturbing the shadow dragon slayer's sleep was like taking Erza Scarlet's strawberry cake.

"Sting…" came Rogue's awakened hiss.

Sting paled and started sprinting in the opposite direction like his life depended on it (which it probably did).

Maybe it was better he'd let Rogue know of his fantastic idea tomorrow.

* * *

**The song belongs to Maroon 5, its Won't Go Home Without You. One of my ultimate favourite****s. im a huge fan of anything Maroon 5 hehe.**

**Anyways. **

**Did you like the first date flashback? hehehe i had so much fun writing it. Give your comments in the reviews, it'd be gladly appreciated :)**

**next chappie is otw! thank you for the unwavering support! this story would be nothing w/o my lovely reviewers!**

**Love, Jelisse.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Ball

**Review Replies!**

**Aquos35: good question ;) will be revealed soon! dont worry :)**

**AngelXReaper: hehehe thank you, im really glad you think so :) i liked that part as well ;)**

**MissAMira: hmm well i'll have to think about a Lyon chapter... not sure yet. :x but i'll consider it ;)**

**SimplyIsabelleS: THE BALL IS HERE! VOILA! *sweeps arms in dramatic gesture* huehuehue**

**FairyTailWolf6: yes yes she is ;) thank you thank you i will :')**

**puckingrainbows: KYAAA YES STING IS CUTE HEHEHE HE'S ALWAYS CUTE :3 Lyon's feelings are... well... soon to be revealed maybe. i still cant decide on whether i should make a Lyon chappie.**

**Write-A-Rainbow: i missed your reviews :( RoNa is otw hehehe i kinda ship them here, they're like so scheming huehue. :) **

**ViviChenny1: im sorry if the sex scene wasnt very good, my lemon skills are limited heh :c if it helps... there's another one coming soon. i wont reveal who's in it, but it would help if you reviewed it as well :) im glad you think this is a good story though :) thanks for the review!**

**HERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER! IM SORRY I HAVENT POSTED IT SOON ENOUGH, I'VE BEEN SO BUSY. :(**

**enjoy! ^^**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Ball**

Lucy stood in front of her mirror, smoothing her dress and checking her reflection.

Her hair was done up in a simple elegant knot, pinned to perfection by Cancer. Dripped on her ears were delicate emerald teardrops for earrings, a past reward from a mission. Her feet were decked in her six inch white satin heels, covered with lace embroidery. She smelled faintly of mango and musk and a faintly sweet daisy scent, a unique perfume Loke had gotten her.

Meanwhile, Natsu was sitting on her bed, chatting animatedly with Happy. The fire-breather was meeting Lisanna at the Ball itself later, so he had nothing to worry about. His slim body was decked in a fairly simple red suit, with a pink dress shirt inside and his ever present scarf around his neck. Lucy personally thought the scarf topped the outfit very nicely, having chosen the ensemble for her best friend.

Erza was sitting at Lucy's dining table, eating strawberry cake before the ball. She looked as stunning as always, dressed in a long silver body-tight gown, drooped in a deep V between her nearly exposed breasts, dangerously slit at her side, revealing a side view of her long battle-toned legs.

Gray was pacing up and down in her living room, distressed a little. He had asked Lucy the previous day to be his dance partner for the ball, only to be told that Lyon had beaten him to it… more shocked or annoyed, he couldn't figure which was more accurate to his feelings. It seemed so ironic that out of all people, Lyon had gotten to the one girl he was possibly going to ask to the ball. The best person to do damage to both his pride and heart. He had hurriedly backed off once he had found out, as he didn't want to show Lucy his disappointment; she had explained her circumstances to him quite woefully, stating that she had already said yes to Lyon, and that she would've gone with him if he had asked earlier.

"Why don't you go with Juvia instead? I'm sure she'd be very happy." was the response she had given him. He didn't want to explain to her that she was the only girl he would ever look to for a romantic experience like this, so he had merely shrugged it off and said that he wouldn't mind going alone. He had carelessly dressed for the night, not giving it much thought, but nevertheless looking dashing in an expertly cut navy suit with a pale blue cotton scarf wrapped around his neck for a decorative touch, chosen kindly by Lucy.

The pain of knowing that he would never get Lucy to himself was eating its way to the bottom of his heart.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Ding-dong!

"Shit, that must be Lyon! Is it seven already?" came Lucy's voice running from her bedroom to the hall where everyone else was waiting.

Gray gaped at the sight of her. She looked stunning, even in her hurried state. He tried not to feel disappointed that he didn't get to take her as his for the night. After all, they were only team mates…

He followed everyone else to the door, where Lucy was greeting Lyon.

"Lucy, you look as beautiful as always." Gray came to a scene of a blushing red Lucy and the ever-gallant Lyon taking her hand in his and kissing it lightly.

"And you're ever the gentleman, Lyon." chuckled Lucy. She took Lyon's offered arm firmly and they set off to the stated ballroom venue along with a cheerful Erza, and overexcited Natsu and Happy and a rather doleful Gray.

Gray was sinking into a slow depression as he watched Lucy and Lyon engage in a lively conversation.

Why couldn't he be the one there instead of Lyon?

He had forgotten completely of how Lucy looked at Sting a mere few days ago.

The night was going to be a complicated one.

* * *

Lucy gasped in sight of the distinguished-looking building which was the supposed venue for the Magnolia Ball, the Mavis Vermillion Monumental Hall, built in dedication and gratitude to the first master of Fairy Tail by the town council.

When everyone had told her it was prestigious, she had merely shrugged it off, thinking how good could it be? Well, it looks like the building in front of her matched up to their descriptions very well.

It was large, constructed purely of white stone, and it had a completely white marbled roof, giving off a classic Roman-Ionic look. Four similarly built pillars conjoined the entire building, and the walls were covered by a mass stretch of ivy and honeysuckle climbing up the stone walls, clearly giving a lovely view from the outside.

Outside, a long red carpet stretched from the pavement to the inside of the building. The sides of the carpet were lined prettily with stretching rows of summer flowers. The carpet was cut off by long red ropes at the sides, and thousands of commoners had gathered to witness their favourite mages at this prestigious ball.

Lucy felt like a celebrity as she walked onto the fiery red carpet, a similar shade to Erza's hair, arm in arm with Lyon, who looked as handsome as ever in a charming navy suit, with a cute turquoise-and-yellow-pineapple dress shirt, unbuttoned slightly at the top. Seeing it made Lucy shiver all over again in memory of that energetic yet oh-so-sinful night in bed with him, followed by a slight pang of guilt for keeping such a secret from everyone.

The citizens cheered loudly at the sight of the beautiful celestial spirit mage arm in arm with one of the most respected ice mages in Fiore. They cheered even louder when they saw the handsome Gray, who unfortunately was too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice the vibrant air of the crowd tonight. His face was emotionless and he looked like a robot crossing the carpet, his stride quick and soundless.

The inside was even more dazzling than the outside. Walking down a grand white marble staircase that was positioned at the entrance, Lucy gasped as she slowly took in the grand scene.

Covering the ceiling was a giant chandelier making the entire ballroom glow with a soft golden light. Along the walls were magical floating lacrimas, giving the white walls a rosy glow. The dance floor was a burnished mahogany, polished as smooth and shining as it could be.

Golden silk-draped tables for dining were placed around the dance floor, giving the dancers centre stage. Many well-known mages were already there, chatting lively or helping themselves to food from the banquet table. Classical music, mellow to the ears, was playing from the orchestra that was hired specially for the occasion.

"Wow." murmured Lucy. She made a mental note never to miss out on mages-only balls ever again. It sure was extravagant, even compared to the parties her father used to host in the mansion when she was younger.

Spotting the food, Natsu and Happy lost themselves and started eating straight from the banquet table. Erza was striking up a sarcastic conversation with a very snivelling looking Bacchus. Gray was sullenly standing at one side, watching Lucy and pointedly ignoring Juvia's stares.

Lyon looked at Lucy, who simply shrugged when he said:

"Well, what the heck. Shall we be the first real dancers on this floor?"

* * *

Sting was still in his room, adjusting his bow-tie as Rogue moaned for him to hurry up, complaining that they were going to be late. Sting wanted all the eyes on him, so it was natural that they couldn't arrive too early. They had to arrive after everyone else had arrived, so that everyone could get a glimpse of the marvelling view his looks so displayed.

Finally, he readjusted his bow-tie for the last time and let a relieved Rogue drag him to the nearby transport wagon that they had arranged for a faster trip to Magnolia.

"Do you think everything will go well?" he yelled at Rogue, his voice dim above the roar of the magic wheels spinning on their way to Magnolia. They weren't half-dead with motion sickness as they had both taken medication before the ride.

"Only time will tell for sure. Just don't screw up." Rogue had muttered, his thin voice somehow audible over the roar.

Easier said than done, thought Sting grudgingly as he recalled the entire plan again in his head. So much depended on his timing, so he couldn't afford to mess up.

No, he couldn't afford to screw anything up.

He was the Great White Dragon Slayer of Sabertooth, Sting Eucliffe for god's sake. He wasn't known for mistakes. He would simply have to deliver a perfect kill to win Lucy back. His pride depended on this. And so did his love.

The travel vehicle stopped, and Sting and Rogue stepped down from the wagon, waving and smiling (just Sting, actually) at the overenthusiastic crowd, who cheered even louder at the presence of the dashing Sting and the mysterious Rogue.

Rogue rolled his eyes at Sting, who was basking fully at the glory and attention he was receiving from his beloved fans. As much as he was a good friend, Sting had an ego as powerful as the punches he packed. He had very much enjoyed Sting's attitude when Lucy was with him, mellowing his ego down by a massive scale. He hoped that the night would turn out good, for his friend's sake and his own.

Cana met them both at the entrance, looking absolutely delicious in a glittery pale blue mermaid gown. In her hand was a glass of lemon juice and vodka, already half finished.

"I hope that won't affect your performance in the plan later." Rogue stared at the glass of alcohol disapprovingly.

Cana simply glared at him, and said sharply:

"I think you can count on me, it was my plan after all."

Sting chuckled slightly at the tension between the two. There was obviously some kind of unspoken spark between the two. His chuckles faltered as Cana turned to him, her gaze like a hawk's.

"I take it you know what to do?" she asked him sharply. Sting nodded and resisted the urge to salute her and yell '_sir, yes sir!' _like a soldier would.

"Yeah, I do." he just muttered.

"Good." Cana said before taking his arm firmly and linking it through her's, searching for the blonde girl together. Rogue just walked behind them quietly.

They searched, and they searched. Where was the blonde girl?

Finally, Sting spotted her dancing amicably with Lyon. Her delicate twirls were blending in well with Lyon's firm dance movements. They swirled in sync to the rhythm of the music. People were watching them in admiration.

Sting growled, annoyed.

"Patience, Sting." smirked Cana. "It's a virtue."

Holding a suddenly renewed glass of red wine in her hand, Cana sloshed her way over to Lucy and Lyon, pretending to be drunk silly, Sting latched onto her arm. He tried his best to look like he was enjoying himself.

Lucy had frowned at the sight of Cana and Sting together. What was her best friend doing… with her ex-boyfriend?

"Hello, darling. Hey, Lyon." sloshed Cana, grinning in fake drunkenness at Lyon, who smiled at her.

"Hey Cana…hi Sting." Lucy smiled at Sting, the familiar warmth in her heart returning a little before she fought it off again. _Just a friend_, Lucy reminded herself.

Mixed emotions swirled into her.

Annoyance was one, for interrupting her dance with Lyon, which she had been enjoying durably.

Unrequited jealousy was another, for she was astounded and enraged that of all the men Cana could've had for the night, she had simply _had_ to choose Sting Eucliffe.

Secret adoration and admiration for how Sting looked tonight, was another. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him look so incredibly sexy. Decked in his white tuxedo and grey bow-tie ensemble, complete with the dashing sapphire earring, she wouldn't have been surprised if he told her he was an angel come down to earth from heaven to woo her away. She would've gladly followed him.

Sting was also not-so-secretly dumbstruck at how Lucy looked. No wonder men everywhere were stealing perverted glances at her. Women were giving her purely envious glances, wondering where on earth she had gotten that dress.

Her gown was snow white in colour, and had short satin sleeves. The shape was just a simple one that was hugging to her waist and then flowed freely to the ground (think Kate Middleton's wedding dress, with a few alterations by yours truly).

It was absolutely covered in every inch with intricate floral embroidery; perhaps that was what made it so magnificent, or the fact that the back was nothing but appliqués and lace, except for the figure-hugging skirt which was a full train of pale white silk. His ex-girlfriend resembled a real princess. Her back had come out looking extremely turning on and sexy, the lace and appliqués ending directly above her ass. Sting felt the blood rush to his nose.

He felt the bulge in his pants harden at the sight of her.

_Oh god, this is humiliating,_ he groaned, hoping nobody noticed.

He tried focusing on the plan instead, which brought him back to the genius of a Cana.

Splosh!

That was the sound of Cana not-so-accidentally spilling her drink on Lyon's white suit jacket, getting the maroon alcohol everywhere. Lyon gasped. Cana winked at Sting, who tried not to smirk in response, as Cana's plan on making Lucy partner-less for the night was working well.

Lucy dearly resisted the urge to strangle Cana for ruining her night so early by splashing wine drunkenly on her date. Lyon would be so mad at her. Now she was stuck alone, for sure.

How was she going to apologize to Lyon? And she had planned on having such a great night with him… she groaned inwardly.

Or at least, that was what she thought at first.

An apologetic (or so it seemed) Cana had dragged Lyon away before he could pardon her gentlemanly, insisting that she should get him clean and bring him back. Rogue had quietly followed them both.

This left a smirking Sting.

With a very suddenly hot and bothered Lucy.

"Well." Sting said, grinning slightly at his incredible luck. He made a mental note to thank Cana personally for her generous contribution.

"Well." muttered Lucy. From Lyon Vastia to Sting Eucliffe, her night had gone way differently than she had expected.

"How have you been?" Sting tried to cook up conversation with the clearly flustered girl.

"I've been good, thank you. How- how about you?" mumbled Lucy.

_Keep your composure, keep it, you can't lose out to someone like him_, Lucy reminded herself frantically, hearing her heart beat erratically. No way was she going to let Sting Eucliffe get the better of her.

"Oh, I've had better days. Say, were you two together?" Sting not-so-casually-but-still-casually mentioned her and Lyon. Lucy shook her head glumly. _And I bet you_ _like it that way don't you? _She thought bitterly.

"Oh, I see. Just friends eh?" Sting pointed out casually, not knowing that Lucy had gone past that route with Lyon when she'd fucked him senseless in the inn that night.

Lucy completely forgot about composure at a point like this drawn out in front of her. Blushing red as a beetroot, she wondered if he knew something.

"Y-yes." She mumbled, wishing there was a hole she could crawl into.

Not knowing why Lucy was so red, thinking she was just uncomfortable, Sting wondered how he could break the tension and bring them back into a happy casual conversation, where they could slowly go back to the way they used to be.

"Would you like to go for a walk in the garden out back?" he offered kindly. He remembered how much Lucy liked flowers.

Lucy seemed even more flustered than before at this. Taking the arm that he offered, they both walked rather awkwardly to the garden that lay at the back of the ballroom.

The garden was vast and green, filled with many tropical plants brought in from outer countries. The faint tart scent of greenery filled the air as the breathtaking scene of nature unfolded in front of them. The air was crisp and fresh and inviting to the lungs, as they strolled through the garden path, Sting trying his best to strike up conversation.

Lucy broke the ice quickly by tripping over a stray pebble in the path, causing her to nearly fall face first if it hadn't been for Sting, who with his lightning-quick reflexes caught her immediately, startled.

Lucy stared at Sting weakly, as he carefully propped her back up like she was a valuable china vase. She dusted her white skirt off and mumbled a thank you. Her face was flaming red. She was beyond herself in nervousness.

Sting felt her aura of a nervous wreck and sighed in slight relief. No doubt that her nerves were just getting the better of her and she was just getting tongue-tied. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him after all. The great Sting Eucliffe would have to take charge and fix this.

Sting pretended to trip as well, and made sure to fall into her arms so that Lucy somehow caught him too.

Lucy peered down at him suspiciously, holding him in her arms firmly so he didn't fall.

"Did you do that on purpose?"

"You're being silly Lucy. Why would I fall on purpose?"

Lucy just snorted and propped him back on his feet.

Sting just pretended he had really fallen down by accident and looked at her innocently. If he was going to play his cards, he would have to play them right.

"Silly Lucy." he chuckled and ruffled her hair. She swatted his hand away, afraid that he would mess up her carefully knotted bun for the night.

'Don't call me that." She grumbled. Sting just chuckled at her. He messed up his blonde hair and made a face, causing her to giggle.

"Now we're both silly." he grinned at her, and Lucy couldn't help but laugh at his childish but undeniably cute antics.

"How was your mission with Gray the last time I saw you?" Sting grinned down at his pretty companion. Maybe the night would turn out well after all.

"It was alright. The roses were back to normal after awhile." smiled Lucy. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had such a normal conversation. For some reason, her heart was fluttering pleasantly at the sound of his voice.

Letting her barriers down for the night, she opened up to him, not caring for once all that had happened between them; or after them…

They laughed and they joked as their hearts were at peace with the security of the conversation unfolding in front of them. Both mages felt something between them ignite again, and this time they weren't pushing away the undeniable feelings that had erupted between them.

They found a bench in the middle of a small clearing, underneath a cherry blossom tree, pink flowers surrounding them on the dirt ground everywhere.

"After you, Lucy." Sting waited for her to sit before he sat as well, next to her. Both mages were gazing at the ground, filled with unresolved happiness and an urge to keep the spark ignited, for fear that it would die out soon, which was something both mages didn't want to confront if it happened.

"You look amazing tonight. If you told me you were an angel, I would've believed you."

Lucy chuckled at that. Sting was always a charmer when it came to how she looked.

Sting felt a familiar swoop of warmth in his heart as he watched Lucy's face light up.

"Oh Sting. It feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

Lucy's quiet voice rang in his ears like a loudspeaker, and his amplified dragon slayer hearing certainly didn't help that.

"Really?" he murmured softly. They were alone, with nothing but the trees whispering in their ears and the wind blowing between their faces. Crickets were singing in the bushes, as if they knew about Sting and Lucy and were teasing them amicably. The night was peaceful.

"Yeah." She turned to face him, her face filled with longing. She wanted to forget about their complications, forget about Lyon who was probably waiting for her, the opposing guilds, the secrets she'd been keeping from her friends, everything.

Sting watched her expression, his heartbeat uneven and ragged in his chest. He wanted to kiss her right there and then, but he remembered Cana's advice that she had meant well:

"_Patience, Sting. It's a virtue." _

He remembered that the plan was not yet fully carried out. He had something better than a mere kiss in store for his beautiful love tonight.

He gave her a warm smile, filled with joy.

Standing up and holding out one hand to her, he said:

"C'mon. Let's go inside. I have a surprise for you."

Lucy was at a loss for words. Surprise? What surprise? She hadn't even expected him to be here.

"What surprise?" she asked, in mock suspicion.

Sting just laughed. Ah, how beautiful she looked under the moonlight. He resisted the urge to press his lips against her's, knowing there was something better in store for the night if he was patient.

"Follow me, and I'll show you."

Careful to keep his gaze on Lucy, making sure she didn't slip on the cobblestone path in her six-inch heels again. Her fingers were unconsciously intertwined around his, their shoulders touching slightly. She leaned against him, their bodies in tune with each other. There was just something so magical about the way they conjoined with one another, something not even words could describe.

"Come on!" he glanced at the big clock tower nearby.

It was time…

Lucy was confused as heck. Wasn't he about to kiss her?

And sure, they were complicated, but she wasn't one to complain when Sting Eucliffe tried to kiss you.

Sting lead her hurriedly but gently back inside the hall.

He dragged her to the middle of the dance floor, ignoring the looks they were getting from all the mages of the other guilds, including Fairy Tail and Sabertooth.

Erza was glaring at Sting, and Natsu had accidentally lit a tablecloth on fire without realising. Gray was simply watching them with distinct interest, as he already knew what was going on. Minerva was giving Lucy a silent death stare, and Orga and Rufus were simply watching in slight amusement, sneers on their faces as they watched their team mate dance with a fellow rival.

Other mages, even though slightly distracted by the odd sight of a Fairy Tail mage and Sabertooth mage in the middle of the dance floor together, returned to their own business soon enough. The dance floor was soon packed with couples again, as the slow song of the night came on.

Erza dragged a spluttering Natsu onto the dance floor, simply stating that she needed to 'keep an eye' on Lucy. Minerva dragged Rufus into the dance floor with the same intentions, suspicious.

Not caring about the weird developments going on around him, Sting slipped his hands into Lucy's. The music started to play, and a certain band replaced the orchestra on the stage.

Lucy was wide-eyed, unsure of what to think.

She was very aware that everyone was watching her and Sting, evidently surprised with their close interaction.

She was aware that her friends were watching her curiously, and that Sting's comrades were deciding whether to raise the issue by starting a fight, but for now, her attention was focused on the dashing blonde boy in front of her.

Her arms slipped around his neck as they began to slow dance. Lucy's eyes widened as she heard the familiar guitar chords and drum beats as they swayed to the song.

"Sting…" she breathed out, shocked. How had he planned this?

Sting smirked, grinning down at Lucy.

"Our first date, remember?"

_I asked her to stay but she wouldn't listen_  
_And she left before I had the chance to say_  
_The words that would mend the things that were broken_  
_But now it's far too late she's gone away_

Lucy felt her heart swell in happiness as the memory of her and Sting's first date came into her head.

They swayed slowly, her head on his chest and his head resting on her shoulder, forgetting about the rest of the world for a dear moment.

"Lucy."

"Hm?"

"I was thinking…"

"About?"

"Us."

She felt her heart stop.

"What about us?" she whispered, her eyes shining in question at the boy who stood before her.

The lead singer jumped into a certain touching verse for the both of them.

_Of all the things I've felt I've never really showed_  
_Perhaps the worst is that I never let you go_  
_I should not ever let you go_

"I'm sorry I let you go, Lucy. I…" Sting, paused, hesitant. Was he doing the right thing here?

Lucy's hands tightened their grip around his neck. She didn't want to push him away anymore. Let the feelings go, let the moment, the night all disappear. She didn't want that anymore. All she really wanted… was to be with him.

"Keep talking Sting."

Sting laughed softly at that. She had never been a patient one.

"I shouldn't have let you go. I... I don't want to see you with anyone else Lucy. I just want you back in my life, my arms. I don't care if the whole world is against us… I will find a way to be with you. Right now, not having you in my life… its pure torture, physically and mentally. I just… I can't live with the fact that I let you get away so easily."

Sting looked down at the petite girl who had gone silent at his words, praying that he hadn't said the wrong thing.

"Lucy?" he said, alarmed that tears were leaking from her eyes.

"Oh Sting…" she threw herself at him and held him tight.

She wanted to tell him yes, yes she would be with him, yes they could have their old lives back, even if it meant conflict between them and everyone else.

But did she deserve him like this, so pure and innocent, unknowing of what she had done?

Something was nagging at the back of her mind.

Like karma had come for her, an image of a topless Lyon Vastia and that one sinful night came pushing into her mind.

She felt remorse. Should she tell him?

She could keep quiet. She could just accept Sting back, and they would be very happy.

But she wasn't that kind of person. She couldn't keep anything from Sting if they were going to be together again. She would just… have to tell him.

She took a deep breath. The weight of the words weighed down on her tremendously.

"I miss you too. I really can't stand the thought of you with someone else. But I need to tell you something…"

* * *

Natsu frowned at what he was hearing. His dragon hearing had enabled him to get a nice slice of Lucy and Sting's private conversation, and he didn't understand what Sting was implying. It was almost like… they had been together before?

He conveyed all he had heard to Erza, who was all the more confused.

Rufus was silent, listening in on the conversation, and then conveying everything to Minerva, who was sneering at every word he told her.

"So it seems like my suspicions were correct after all. He really was dating the celestial girl after all. And all those times we nearly caught him…" Minerva muttered to Rufus, her eyes narrowed.

"Lets just leave them be, for now. Master isn't here… and we have no reason to betray him like that." Rufus said quietly.

Minerva snorted. "And what happens if he betrays us first? My father would have all of us banished, regardless of the situation."

Rufus frowned. "That would be most unlike Sting."

Minerva just sighed. "Fine. But we're going to keep close watch on him, right?"

Rufus just nodded, preoccupied with listening in on Sting and Lucy.

* * *

"What do you mean?" Sting was cold.

The previous warmth he had been feeling with her was extinguished, like a candle that had been blown out cruelly.

He felt nothing but coldness now.

"I… I'm sorry… Sting…" Lucy mumbled. Her tears of regret were dripping onto the cold floor. She felt nothing but sorrow for telling him. She almost wished she didn't, but she couldn't bear the thought of keeping something from him…

"Sting…" she tried pulling him close to her again, but he pushed her away. His mind was swirling with too many assumptions and thoughts.

"Why did you do it? Why, Lucy? Tell me!" he threw his yells at her, his face clearly filled with anguish.

They were aware that everyone was staring at them now, aware that everyone was bewildered, confused on why the certain pair were talking over such a certain subject in such a certain tone.

But Sting felt too anguished to care, and Lucy felt too filled with remorse to stop his rage.

Lucy had told him her secret that she had told no one: she had had sex with Lyon.

Cana stumbled back into the hall with Rogue in tow, shocked at the unexpected twist of events. They certainly hadn't bargained for this…

"What are they fighting about? It looks like Lucy did something wrong…" Rogue muttered.

Cana was at a loss for words. Not only had her brilliant plan failed, the situation was far worse than before.

Just what exactly had Lucy told Sting?

* * *

Sting looked torn between rage and sorrow, not knowing whether to forgive Lucy or further push her guilt deeper into her heart.

"How… how could you Lucy…" mumbled Sting, not knowing what to say. Cana hadn't mentioned anything about a one-night stand with another man… had she been in on this cruel joke?

God forbid he had done lots of horrible things, but if this was some sort of punishment from the heavens, he couldn't handle it.

"Forgive me, Sting… Please… I'm so sorry…" Lucy whispered tearfully. Her face was streaked with tears.

Watching this scene unfold, Gray was visited by a sudden urge to pull Lucy away from Sting, lest something happened and they wouldn't be able to stop him from releasing his anger.

Sting's expression was purely unreadable, emotionless.

He spoke in a low monotone.

"And there I was, thinking I could win you back… its clear your affections lie somewhere else." He paused, half-smiling at the dear pain he felt swelling.

"I'm sorry; I thought maybe we still had a chance... I don't even know why I'm here." Sting said softly, there was a kind of vulnerability in his voice that made Lucy all the more filled with remorse.

He gave her a crooked half-smile. A single teardrop rolled down his cheek, and he just let it drop onto the floor. _As helpless as me now, aren't you?_ He thought to the teardrop. _Falling down, without anything to help you up,_ he chuckled bitterly.

So this was how it felt, losing something that wasn't even yours to begin with.

He traced his thumb down the trail of a teardrop stain on Lucy's face, staring at her porcelain features, streaked with tears. How he had ached for those features to look at him like this… but he was too late.

Someone had gotten there first, claimed his golden star in the sky, so he had no star to light up his midnight sky anymore. The only thing that was left was the darkness.

If the previous days had hurt, it was nothing compared to what he felt now. His mere being was completely shattered, and in that moment, he lost his ability to feel true emotion again.

He had lost the one thing that had lit up his life so brightly.

Really, truly lost her…

_Is this punishment?_ He wanted to yell at the heavens.

_Well, I can't feel whatever they're inflicting on me anymore,_ he sneered up at the sky. _Their loss_, he laughed inwards.

He had never imagined; never even thought for a moment, that she would consider loving someone else.

He knew now, truly felt the pain and the hurt, of having your pride broken down so raw and so bare in front of you, and being completely helpless to stop it.

He realised slowly and perhaps too late: she had been his one true pride.

He smiled a now broken smile.

"Goodbye Lucy." he turned to leave.

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN.**

**okay. who cried. i cried a little writing this chapter. my heart broke at Sting. :c**

**next chap is coming soon!**

**what happens after this? what do Cana and Rogue do about this unexpected twist? and what are Lucy's teammates going to do? and how about the Sabertooth mages, how will they react? **

**and most importantly, how is Sting? *sobs hysterically* HE IS SO SAD, THE POOR THING.**

**i have to inject some happiness into this story. seriously. gah. **

**stay tuned!**

**Love, Jelisse.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Sorrow

**Review Replies:**

**JessicaPhantomhive: hahahaha im sorry i got you all in a mess :p the reconcilement is otw! meanwhile enjoy the drama in between :B**

**AngelXReaper: i hope you had enough time left for lunch. ah, they're confused. Sting feels betrayed, Lucy feels guilty. those two emotions arent a very good mix.**

**MissAMira: please dont spill D: you wont be able to read fanfics anymore**

**ViviChenny1: well i dont really um enjoy these lemons. i need very lewd scenes in my head that i wont be particularly proud of. of course Sting feels like she didnt wait for him, did she? she wouldnt have done it with Lyon if she felt that she owed Sting. remember, she did want to forget about him that night...**

**SimplyIsabelleS: he assumed she let him go already when she did the deed with Lyon :) and she of course is confused about her feelings and kinda regretful of that night with Lyon. hope you get it :)**

* * *

**Guys, im sorry that last chapter was kinda confusing. to get things straight, Lucy feels confused and regretful, and Sting just saw that Lucy let him go already, not seeing that of course she's sad and she still loves him so he left. **

**and Write-A-Rainbow, I MISS YOUR REVIEWS GAH WHERE ARE YOU.**

**thank you so much my lovely readers, for all the favs and follows. you guys truly are amazing and if i reach a hundred reviews, i'll do something for you all, but i haven't figured what its going to be yet. fingers crossed! :3**

**you guys inspire me. xx**

**Enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Sorrow**

Everything was a blur.

Natsu and Erza, along with Minerva and Rufus had stopped dancing, forgetting that they were in the middle of a moving crowd, therefore causing a domino effect in everyone falling down.

"Oops." cackled Minerva. She giggled and sidestepped everyone, seating herself down at her original table with Rufus and Orga.

"Oh gosh… I'm getting sickness just looking at everyone…" Natsu collapsed, green-faced, and Erza caught him and threw him onto a chair next to Gray's, where he was sitting nursing a beer, evidently worried about Lucy. Erza didn't know that his worries were more than just of a friend.

As Natsu dispelled the contents of his stomach into a garbage can nearby, Erza conveyed everything she had seen and heard to Gray, who blanched.

"What?"

"Yeah. You heard me." said Erza grimly. "I have some questions to ask."

Pulling Gray and Natsu by their hair, she dragged them over to the Sabertooth table, where Minerva was seated with her fellow guild mates.

"Well, look what we have here. A fairy wants to speak to us." Minerva said in mock surprise, a note of disdain clear in her voice. Rufus and Orga were just silent, knowing better than to start a fight and ruin the already complicated night.

Erza reluctantly pulled a chair out and sat down next to Minerva.

"Tell me everything you know about Sting and Lucy." she commanded all three of them.

"Why should we?" cooed Minerva dangerously. Her fingers tingled with energy, and she laughed coldly. "Looks like we have you in a twist, _Titania._"

Erza looked clearly unmoved.

She turned to Rufus.

"I can tell you care about your comrade. Are you sure you don't know anything?"

Rufus sighed and just kept quiet.

Already expecting this, Erza just nodded.

"Fine. Have it this way. I would've thought you would care a little more about your own comrade."

Minerva thought she saw a hint of sadness behind the great Titania's eyes.

Rufus waited till Erza and the rest had left before speaking quietly to Minerva.

"If only they knew how Sting has been lately, because of that celestial girl."

"They should know better than to expect us to cooperate with trash like them." smirked Minerva, sipping her wine.

"Should we have said something? I do want to help Sting. He seems out of sorts lately."

"No. let them sort it out. Sting can handle himself." Minerva said with an air of dignity, firmly believing that Sting's recent behaviour was the celestial girl's to blame.

"Trash like them should know better than to get involved with Sabertooth."

* * *

Sting ran.

He ran all the way home to his house in Crocus, not caring that he'd be dead tired by the time he reached, not caring that he had left Rogue alone in Magnolia.

He didn't want to care about anything at all.

He flung his body onto his bed, feeling numb with pain.

He didn't realise how much time had passed since he'd reached the comforts of his bed, but it must've been a long time, as Rogue was shaking him awake, and it was morning.

"Sting! God, you're hard to wake."

"Says the guy who goes into Shadow Drive every time someone wakes him up." came Sting's curt reply.

Rogue chuckled. At least Sting's humour was still intact. His heart, however...

"Get up already. Come on, we need to talk about Lucy."

Hearing the word _Lucy_ was like Rogue had socked him in the balls, head and heart at the same time.

"Just leave it Rogue… there's nothing to talk about… Tell Cana Alberona her idea was stupid…" mumbled Sting, half-delirious. He didn't want to think about Lucy, let alone talk about the previous night.

"Come on, Sting. Get up. You're not like this."

Sting just got up; pushing Rogue out of the room, ignoring all protests, and locking the door firmly before tumbling eventually back into bed.

He had no clue what he was doing, but it was okay. He moped in bed, half-delirious with thoughts of Lucy and what had made her hurt him so horribly.

Why had she done this? What did he ever do to deserve this? How was Lyon better than him?

Was Lyon better than him?

He felt a cold, stinging throb on his heart, squeezing it painfully as he recalled everything that had happened between him and Lucy.

Did it really have to end like this?

Maybe the fates had other plans, but for now, he didn't want to think about it. It hurt too much to even think... the smiles they had shared, the heartache he had shed unmistakably for her. Did he not deserve a happy ending in this sorrowful tale?

He just slumped further down into his bed, trying to drown out all the sounds of his thoughts betraying him.

He was completely miserable.

* * *

"Lucy? Come on honey, open the door already,"

Cana Alberona was annoyed. Her best friend, since last night's little incident, had ran home crying and sobbing in a considerate amount of remorse and regret. Since she had yet to find out what had happened, she was still hammering on the door at 9 in the morning after a half-fulfilled sleep, anxious to get her to talk.

"Go away, Cana. There's nothing to talk about." came Lucy's monotone reply. She sounded dead to the world.

Cana frowned. _This isn't gonna be pretty_, she figured grimly.

"Lucy, open the door now, or you're gonna have to pay for a new one. I'm coming in!"

Cana pulled an explosion card from her satchel and held it in front of her, praying that she wouldn't have to do this.

"Three,"

No movement whatsoever was heard from beyond the door.

"Two."

Still no sound coming from the apartment door. Cana sighed. It looked like she had to force her way in…

"Really, Luce? You sure you wanna buy a new door?"

The door flew open.

Cana raised her eyebrows at what a mess her best friend looked like.

Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying, and her face was pale till the point of where Lucy could probably rival a vampire. Underneath her brown eyes were visible eye-bags the size of Mount Fuji, and her body looked sore and every step Lucy took looked painful to the naked eye, as Cana painfully observed.

"I hate you, Cana. Come on in..." mumbled Lucy. She sounded half-asleep, unsure of what she was saying or doing.

"What the hell is going on with you? Mind explaining to me a little of all your complicated secrets? First, you tried hiding Sting from me, which obviously didn't work out well, and now you're doing it again. Ever heard of learning from mistakes?"

"Iz knop sving."

Lucy's head was crammed onto a pillow, which was on the coffee table. Lucy was sitting on the floor, her face hidden by a pillow, therefore the muffled reply.

Cana glared at Lucy.

"Speak up."

Lucy looked up at Cana through half-open eyelids, squinting.

_Why are there two Canas in the room? _She wondered curiously. Was she hallucinating?

"It's not Sting." She sighed sadly, feeling the tears come into her eyes again. It was like a natural reflex to her today. She hated it more than anything, but she couldn't help it.

"Then what the hell were you hiding from him? I heard everything from Rogue."

Not even bothering to ask why Cana was with Rogue the other night, Lucy just mumbled everything out, not bothered with anything or anyone anymore. She just wanted to sleep and hopefully never wake up again.

"I had sex with Lyon Vastia on the night of the mission. I didn't tell you, and I'm sorry. When Sting," she painfully choked out his name. "Asked me to get back with him, I figured I had to tell him. It wouldn't have worked out any other way. Is this karma, Cana?" she laughed tearfully.

"Oh, Luce…" Cana's heart softened after hearing everything that had happened. Of course, something like this would've happened. It wasn't Lucy's fault… the wrong thing had happened at the wrong time, that was all.

Cana climbed down to where Lucy was sitting on the floor and pulled her best friend into an embrace, hugging her and giving her words of comfort.

"Shhh. Come on baby, stop crying. We'll fix it, okay? We'll figure something out. It doesn't have to be like this. Sting is going to realise that it's not worth losing you to stay angry."

Lucy's sobs came out in streams of tears, which pooled and stained Cana's shirt, but Cana didn't mind.

"Why… why did I do it…? I still loved Sting… but I did it anyway… I was so stupid…"

"Shhh. That's enough. Moping around isn't going to help."

"If only I'd just left for home after completing the mission… why did I stay to go out with Lyon? Oh, god…"

"Hey, it's not your fault. Lyon didn't know your situation. And you weren't with Sting at that time, so technically he can't really pin this entirely on you."

Cana's reasoning made her pause her sobbing.

Well, technically she was right. They weren't together, so technically Lucy didn't cheat.

But of course, Sting would still feel betrayed… because he waited, and she didn't.

Lucy sat on her butt and hugged her knees, with her chin on her knees. She had never felt so hopeless in her entire life.

"Oh, Cana… what am I going to do?" she whimpered tearfully. Her expression was deadpan.

"Come on. I'm taking you to Sabertooth. We're going to clear things up."

"But first, I think we deserve a talk with Lucy." came another voice from behind them.

Lucy turned to see Erza, Natsu and Gray standing in her doorway, expressions unreadable.

She felt another pang of guilt stab at her for keeping secrets from her closest friends.

"Guys, I'm sorry… I should've told you…"

The entire Team Natsu engulfed Lucy in a bone-crushing hug, showing that she was clearly forgiven.

"Aw, it's alright, Luce, I just wish you'd told us. I really wanted an excuse to fight him you know…" grinned Natsu cheerfully. Erza smiled behind him, and Gray was expressionless (as usual).

"Oh, Natsu…" Lucy hugged her best friend tearfully. She felt truly sorry she had ever hid anything from them. She should've told all of them everything, right from the start.

They all sat down to a pot of Earl Grey tea.

"I dated him a few months ago," admitted Lucy. "Around April till October I suppose… I was keeping him from you guys because I knew how much you detested Sabertooth… I didn't want you guys to think he was going to betray me. Because believe me, Sting is nothing like that. He's sweet, he's funny, and he's caring…" Lucy smiled dolefully, her heart aching for Sting's presence.

"No wonder you disappeared so much all of a sudden. We hardly got any time with you during those days, even on missions…" muttered Erza. Lucy's oddly timed disappearances during those months were finally explained now.

Lucy reached for Erza's hand and squeezed it softly. "I'm sorry I kept everything from you. I know you guys just want the best for me. And thank you, for not getting mad…"

Erza smiled warmly at her close friend and squeezed her hand in return. They were nakama, bonded for life. She could never stay mad at her nakama. She knew Lucy was just heartbroken. She understood the situation completely.

"The truth is, even after we broke up last month, you could say I never really got over him. I tried, so hard… I even wrote him a letter to confirm things were over… he never really got the hint I suppose." Lucy chuckled half-heartedly, her heart aching again at the thought of Sting. "I threw everything away without thinking… and when I saw him again in Hargeon last week, I knew I wasn't over him. There's just something so pure about him, the raw feeling I get when I'm with him… it just couldn't go away."

A tear trickled down Lucy's cheek as she explained everything. Erza, Natsu and Gray just listened patiently.

"And then, I didn't know what I was doing… I must've lost my train of thoughts for once. On that mission with Lyon, I got so caught up with him; I forgot how I felt about Sting…"

Upon hearing this, Gray shifted uncomfortably. What exactly did she mean by _caught up?_

"I… I slept with Lyon that night."

The fateful words left a mark on Gray bigger than the others.

He felt his heart sink and crack as he registered the words.

A sudden urge to go to Lamia Scale and punch the living daylights out of Lyon submerged him.

Erza looked enraged. "He forced you to, Lucy?" she yelled, requipping into her Heaven's Wheel armour. "I'm gonna kill him!"

Natsu just looked confused. "What's wrong with sleeping with another guy?" he raised an eyebrow. "I sleep in your bed all the time…" everyone just ignored him.

Lucy hurriedly explained to Erza that no, she wasn't forced to sleep with Lyon, on the contrary, she had initiated it.

Lucy turned to Gray, who looked like he was trying to swallow acid.

"I'm sorry Gray." She mumbled. "I should've told you. It's Lyon, after all…"

Gray blinked twice, unsure of what to say. Yes, he was more than a little peeved that Lucy had taken a romp on Lyon without telling him, but even if she did tell him, he supposed it wouldn't make a difference… they were only nakama after all. Nothing more. Not the way he would have it, but of course, it wasn't his choice to make.

He forced what appeared to be an understanding smile and said, "Its fine Luce, it's not your fault. I'm fine with it."

"Thank you, Gray. I love you, for being such a good friend all the time…" she whispered into his ear, unknowing that she would leave too big an impact on Gray.

Lucy pulled a very flustered Gray into a sudden hug.

He didn't know what to do but just hug her in return.

_I love you too, Luce, but in more ways than one…_

Too quickly, he let go of Lucy. Fortunately, she didn't notice anything unusual.

"So what you're telling us now, is that Sting was going to get back with you, but you told him this instead?" Erza confirmed with Lucy, who mutely nodded, feeling thoroughly ashamed of her doings.

"Ha! Lucy, how dumb can you get? Why'd you tell him?" laughed the ever so dense Natsu. Gray and Erza hit him on the back on the head, simultaneously, and he fell to the ground, knocked out for the count.

Lucy chuckled, her eyes still watery from the previous emotions.

"It's alright guys, he has a point…" she mumbled weakly. Her actions had caused this, and nobody was to blame except for her.

Erza looked at Lucy, her eyes stern.

"Well, I can't say that you did the most sensible thing by sleeping with Lyon," she cleared her throat uncomfortably, "but I still respect Lyon as a person, I'll give you that much. And as much as I don't like butting into your business, Sting shouldn't have just walked off like that."

Erza looked into Lucy's tear-stained face, her features soft and filled with concern. "If he really, truly cared about you, he would've taken you back anyway. Not to sound like Elfman, but a real man has to know how to take care of his woman, and Sting clearly isn't that kind of person, otherwise why didn't he stay?"

Gray agreed with Erza. "Yeah, Luce, maybe you should just… let it go." He said this softly. He fidgeted, as he wasn't sure whether he was saying this more for Lucy or himself.

Lucy was at a loss for words. She wasn't sure whether she was shocked because they were telling her to let Sting go, when she had just told them how much he meant to her, or because what they were saying actually made sense…

"Guys… I don't know, okay? I mean, it's a lot to process… I need some time…"

"Just remember who really holds you high in their heart." Erza patted her on the shoulder, and turned to leave, dragging an unconscious Natsu with her.

Gray stayed, unsure of what to do, but he didn't want to leave Lucy at this moment.

Lucy curled up on the couch and just lied there, staring off into blank space. She looked on the verge of breaking down, but something inside her refused to let it out. So there she stayed, silent and lost in her sad thoughts.

Unable to think of anything to help her at the moment, Gray reluctantly joined Cana in the kitchen, who was looting Lucy's cupboards for some booze.

"How is she holding up?"

"I don't know," admitted Gray, with a grimace. "She seems so… fragile, like glass. Anything we say or do could break her…"

Cana saw the worry in Gray's eyes, and patted him on the back. She had had a suspicion for quite awhile now that his feelings for her were more than that of just nakama, and he was just confirming them.

Tossing Gray a bottle of beer, she said: "Well, I don't know about you, but I know she loved Sting more than anything or anyone. They were like those couples you read about in romance novels, always finding their way back to each other. But funny how this is reality, and they're not back together now…"

"Sting sure made a fool out of himself, then. I wouldn't give up Luce just like that."

Realising what he had just said out loud, Gray's eyes turned to Cana's, and some kind of silent understanding just passed through them. He realised that Cana must've known all along, how he felt about Lucy.

"Is it that obvious?" he mumbled, surprised.

"No." smiled Cana. "But I can tell. I know Lucy more than anyone; and I've seen you with her enough to know how you think of her. No need to look so worried, I won't tell anyone." She winked at him.

Gray was unsure whether Cana was drunk or not. He sighed. he supposed not, since she was only on her third bottle of beer.

"Thanks." He mumbled. He felt like an idiot.

"No problem, Fullbuster," grinned Cana. "Now shall we go check on our beloved friend?"

Gray nodded, feeling more appreciative of Cana than usual. Maybe she was sharper than she looked, given that she was half-drunk all the time.

They walked out of the kitchen to find the sofa deserted; the living room empty and the door wide open.

Cana and Gray looked at each other in horror. Where was Lucy?

Gray sprinted to Lucy's bedroom, to find her keys missing.

His knees nearly buckled; he almost sank down to the ground, the familiar feeling of loving despair when it came to Lucy hitting him all over again.

Cana came in, glaring at Gray in frustration as she had been unable to find her best friend anywhere in the small apartment.

"Where is she?"

"I... I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? She has to be around here somewhere..."

"Don't be so stupid, Cana. Its not like you don't know her."

Cana's eyes snapped to Gray's navy blue ones. He looked distressed.

"What do you mean, of course I'm not stupid, I know my own-"

Gray's devastation showed in his eyes as he spoke. His words stuck heavily on Cana's mind, like an insolent weight dragging them both down.

"She's gone, Cana."


	12. Chapter 12: The Talk

**Replies to Reviews for Chapter 11:**

**Write-A-Rainbow: thank youuuuu! your support is seriously amazing to me :) sorry for not updating soon enough. i have been so busy...**

**LucyC: why thank you :) i like that you appreciate it. **

**MissAMira: hahahaha. yeahhhh. about that... should i give him a new love interest?**

**Alxce: heheehhe maybe :B we'll see. enjoy this chap for now :)**

* * *

**GUYS IM SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED IN FOREVER. BEEN BUSY AS HELL. THE SCHOOL YEAR JUST STARTED AND LIKE I CANT DO SHIT ANYMORE.**

**how does one do physics?**

**anyways. cheers. enjoy the story. :)))**

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Talk**

Rogue had managed to find the key to Sting's bedroom door (after what seemed like forever rummaging through the storage room, and accidentally sealing Fro in a cardboard box in the process) and was on the verge of charging in with his Shadow Drive full mode, ready to throttle Sting for his irresponsible behaviour.

According to Rogue, Sting was being a poor example of a dragon slayer, what with the vulnerability he was showing and the lack of driving force to carry on. Weisslogia would've hit Sting on the head hard if he could see him now, guessed Rogue.

"Sting?" he called out. He took a deep breath, and decided he wouldn't throttle Sting, not just yet…

As if Sting had read his thoughts and decided that he didn't want to die by the hands of his best friend just yet, the door flew open and out staggered Sting, mumbling something about not letting down his guard entirely just yet.

Sting just plopped himself down on the couch, resuming his blank staring into space.

He looked like a blonde zombie, what with his hair all over the place, clothes ruffled and dirty; and eyes red enough to challenge Rogue's, and Rogue's red eyes were natural…

"Do you want something to eat?" Rogue tried asking him. Sting ignored him.

Rogue walked over to Sting and hit him on the head, hard.

"Ow!" Sting glared at Rogue. "What the hell was that for?"

Rogue was angered. He had had enough of Sting's crappy behaviour.

Switching into attack mode, he started punching Sting.

Sting, irritated, started defending himself by launching counter-attacks at Rogue.

"What the hell is your problem?!" yelled Sting, dodging under a table only to have it smashed completely by Rogue, who continued trying to land punches on Sting.

"You should ask yourself, Sting. What kind of dragon-slayer are you, huh? Moping all over the place, over some girl!" growled Rogue.

"You don't understand!" yelled Sting, angered enough by Rogue's sudden aggression.

"White Dragon's Roar!"

"Shadow Dragon's Breath Attack!"

The house looked like it was under siege; the table was broken in half, the sofa's stuffing was ripped out so it looked like it was bleeding white cotton, and the pictures on the walls were either hanging by a corner or already fallen to the floor. Lector and Fro were hiding under a broken chair, cowering at their masters' behaviour.

"You- don't- deserve- Sabertooth-" came Rogue's furious reply as he kicked Sting in the knee. Sting jumped out of his way, knocking down a vase in the process.

"What the hell are you talking about? What does the guild have to do with this?" yelled Sting, punching Rogue in the stomach.

"Don't you see how selfish you are? You hardly take missions anymore, let alone show up at the guild!" Rogue shouted at Sting.

"What does this have to do with Lucy?" countered Sting.

"Isn't it obvious? She's the reason why you're like this! You're my best friend, Sting, but even I have my limits! You don't do anything anymore; you just sit around and mope all the time! I'm the one who's paying rent; I'm the one, who takes care of Fro and Lector these days, I'm the one who's bloody covering for you all the time when Master asks about you! Don't you even see what you're becoming? How do you call yourself a dragon slayer?! Weisslogia would be ashamed of you!"

Rogue's accusations brought Sting to a halt.

"I'm sorry Sting, but if this comes to a point where master decides to kick you off Sabertooth, I can't say that it's not your fault."

Sting felt guilt seep its way into his bones like poison.

What was he doing?

Both dragon slayers stood in the wreckage and rather awkwardly looked anywhere but at each other.

Eventually, Sting broke the silence.

"I- I'm sorry Rogue. I didn't really realise… its taking a toll on you isn't it, doing everything for me…"

Rogue just looked at him, his gaze unreadable.

"And… and…" the White Dragon Slayer seemed to have a problem bringing an apology to his lips.

"And I really am sorry, Rogue. I'll stop it. I'll go look for Master Jiemma right now, and explain everything, and-"

Rogue cut him off, thinking he could not bear to hear any more of this daisy girl talk so unworthy of dragon slayers.

A dragon slayer does not apologise, Skiadrum had taught him. They do not commit wrongdoing; therefore do not require the need to apologise. Sorry simply wasn't a word in the dragon slayer's vocabulary.

"Stop apologizing. Really Sting, you shouldn't, it's really beneath your dignity; where are your principles?" Rogue muttered.

Sting stared, dumbfounded.

"But-" Rogue cut him off again.

"I know, I know, you don't have to be such a big pansy and apologise. You're sorry, I can tell. I just needed to let off some steam. Now, you," he pointed a finger at Sting, "have to go and explain yourself to master, and hope he somehow wants to forgive you for your lack of presence at the guild this entire month."

Sting paled a little at the last sentence.

"Otherwise… I'm not sure what to do… the easiest thing to do is hope Jiemma forgives you…"

Sting gulped. That was the hard part…

After somehow reforming the house by magic from the mess they had made (thank goodness their neighbours had high metal fences built specially to keep themselves safe from Rogue and Sting's rackets), Sting was finally ready, physically and emotionally, to visit the guild that he had been avoiding lately.

Before locking the door, he thought he smelt something familiar. Not thinking about it, he just shrugged and walked off to the guild.

* * *

Strolling his way quickly to Sabertooth, he couldn't help but feel a little out of sorts.

He couldn't quite place his finger on the problem exactly. It was like a piece of him was missing and floating around in the air, unable to come down to the ground.

He sniffed the air; he thought he sensed something familiar around him. Faint, but it was there nonetheless.

Unable to put a finger on the oddly familiar feeling, he slowly became frustrated as he racked his brains to think of who had that scent.

As the answer came to his mind, it fell back in terms of priority as the huge guild doors came into sight.

The Sabertooth guild was rather like an ancient Chinese temple in architectural terms, the building all white, and three storeys high, the roof a garbled jade green. The big gate at the entrance was rounded, huge and black, of oriental design. The Sabertooth mark was carved into it. Tall wooden spikes surrounding the building served as security walls; if you walked into the free compound spacing at this time, you would see plenty of mages sparring in the daylight, faces shining with sweat, brighter the morning sun.

"Sir." the rookie mages stopped sparring immediately and bowed down at Sting, who just nodded at them, used to the preferential treatment. Being one of the top mages, he enjoyed the limelight.

He pushed open the big wooden doors and took in the scene before him: people were drinking silently from tankards at the big red bar. Some mages were doing research in the guild's library section, heads bent down and concentrated on their work. He climbed up the marbled spiral staircase and saw Orga, Rufus and Minerva lounging on the second floor, exclusive for their elite only.

"Oi Sting! Master's been looking for you! Where have you been?" yelled Orga, taking a chug from a wine bottle, looking slightly drunk. Sting cringed at his ruddy red complexion.

"Yeah, Sting…. Where have you been?" Minerva said tantalisingly, an expression similar to that of a cat's when it was about to pounce on their prey.

The only one who didn't say anything was Rufus. He just sat in his comfortable armchair, reading an extremely thick leather-bound book. When he noticed Sting, he merely gave him a long questioning gaze before returning to his book.

"I've been… busy." muttered Sting. He was getting a little irritated by his team mates' attitude, which indicated that they knew something he didn't. Had Rogue been telling him everything?

"Master… wants to see you. He said something about needing you for something." said Orga in his deep rumbling thunder-like voice.

"Daddy's been expecting you," smirked Minerva knowingly, as if she knew Sting was going to get some form of punishment already. "Best not to keep him waiting…" She sang out loud in mock cheerfulness, taking a sip of her red wine from a silver lacquered wine glass, smirking gleefully at a paling Sting.

Sting grimaced as he stared up at the third floor, which was solely built for the master. The master kept everything important up there, every single file, every single magical artefact they had in their guild's possession. People rarely went up there, apart from Minerva, and those who did sometimes didn't come back down. Sting had only entered the master's headquarters twice, once when he was younger, to request to join the guild; another to request to form a team with Rogue.

Sting sighed. _Time_ _to face the music, _he figured gloomily, and as he climbed each step up to the doors of the master's office, he couldn't help but feel one step closer to an impending doom.

A magical talking skull with glowing green eyes was hung on the door; a communication device used when the master wanted to identify his visitors.

"Name?" the skull sang, cackling happily at the sight of a new visitor.

"Sting Eucliffe." drawled Sting coldly.

"You may enter! Master has been awaiting you!" it cackled with visible cheer, evidently happy that it had something to do today. Sting shivered at the thought of the master actually waiting for him for once; if it was so important that the master had actually waited for him to dish out his punishment for being such a crappy guild member, Sting was dead dragon meat.

Brushing off the creepy feeling the skull had given him, Sting braced himself and entered.

* * *

The master's office was simply humongous; unsurprisingly, since it was a whole entire floor after all.

Three of the walls were more like shelves, stacked to the brim with files, scrolls of parchment, books and various articles for the master's reference. Hanging from the ceiling was a single chandelier, but that was the only sign of grandeur in the large room.

The master's preference for practicality over appearance certainly displayed itself in his headquarters. The room was filled solely with either useful or valuable things, and everything else had a too simple look to it. The only one of the four walls that wasn't covered in reading material was a display unit, holding behind a glass covering various magical objects that seemed to radiate an eerie sense of power. Odd looking cups, magical carpets, even a black statue of a cat that strangely resembled Pantherlily. (Probably imported from Edolas.)

The wood-panelled floor was covered in a simple brown rug in the middle of the room. The master's desk was more compartments than anything, for he needed the extra space with all his letters and requests. A single slender golden lamp hanging over the edge of the table illuminated the desk with enough light for the master to read and write.

The master himself seemed to be the main display of the room. Jiemma was a man who believed in actions before words. He didn't need any kind of statue or monument to display his greatness: he was the greatness. He radiated pure power from where he sat, and all he was doing was skimming his eyes over what appeared to be a piece of paper.

Sting gulped. Why did the master request to see him, exactly? And why was everyone around here acting like they knew something he didn't? He had only been gone for less than two weeks, jeez…

The master was still reading his precious piece of paper. Sting was starting to wonder whether Jiemma was even aware that Sting was in the room.

Just as Sting was about to do something and announce his presence by clearing his throat or scuffing his shoe on the ground, Jiemma sighed and looked up.

His gaze was penetrating; Sting felt his insides shrivel in place. He was dead for sure. Jiemma probably was going to announce that he was trash, that he didn't belong in Sabertooth, and that he had probably found another elite dragon slayer somewhere in Fiore to replace Sting, and that he should leave before Jiemma wiped the floor with him.

What he didn't expect, was for what Jiemma actually did next.

"Sit down, boy." came the master's voice. It wasn't a command, but Sting knew better than to disobey that voice.

Reluctantly but not daring to look it, Sting sat down in one of the carved wooden chairs facing Jiemma's desk.

Jiemma studied him for awhile; his gaze unwavering, his expression mysterious, as though trying to reach a conclusion with Sting's face as the subject.

Sting shifted uncomfortably. If the master was going to kick him, he might as well get it done now.

"I've been made aware of your… condition, boy."

Sting blinked, confused. Condition?

"Uh, I'm sorry, what condition, master?" Sting asked timidly, afraid that the master was going to roar at him for being forgetful as well as a bad guild member.

"You evidently are love-sick."

Sting gaped. One, was it that obvious? Two, it was freaking Jiemma! The scary old man who kicked out anyone who 'lost their focus from the guild' and called them 'trash'! Since when did he notice love-sickness, let alone point it out? Was this even the same master who had kicked Yukino Aguria out naked?

"By who?!"

'My daughter pointed it out. And Orga, of course. Funny how Rufus didn't mention anything, I would've thought he'd noticed it first. I have pardoned you, in any case. I know what being love-sick feels like."

"What?" Sting gaped at the master. What in heavens, had he just said he understood?

"What's with the googly eyes boy?"

"Uh, master?" Sting started. "I'm, kind of confused…"

"Hmph."

"You don't seem very… you."

"Ah, about that…" Jiemma seemed lost in thought for awhile, before snapping his gaze back to Sting.

"Let me tell you a story."

Sting perked his ears up at that. Jiemma never told stories, less even talked to the guild members. This was a pleasant change. Sting liked stories, although he never admitted it.

"I was like you once. Reckless, and young, and full of driving force to take over the world."

Sting coughed awkwardly. What exactly did this have to do with him?

"Anyway, I met a certain woman… and well, things happened, and I changed. Suddenly I was content with my life; suddenly I was happy, even without my driving passion to start the best guild in Fiore. And this sudden change… it scared me."

Sting paused. Woman?

Of course, Minerva had had to come from somewhere…

Sting shuddered slightly to think of a woman who produced something as horrible as Minerva. Was such a thing even possible?

"I'll admit, she was a beautiful one. Her name was Allie. She used explosive magic, rather like mine. We used to take on whole dark guilds together, blowing everything up." Jiemma chuckled, reminiscent.

Sting didn't know whether to find it sweet or extremely creepy that the great master Jiemma of Sabertooth had once been in love.

"Oh, she was a feisty one… that's where Minerva gets her spunk from."

"Uh, sir…"

"Right, right, I'm getting carried away. Sorry. Anyway… I got scared. The young me simply couldn't comprehend how a simple woman could change my life like that. I just didn't get it, you know? I wanted power, some form of control… So in the end, I left her… till today, I still regard that as the biggest mistake of my life." Jiemma finished softly.

Sting felt sorry for the old man. Maybe he wasn't the only heartbroken one here…

"And something happened last week. I saw Allie again. She was as beautiful as ever."

"Oh, that's great sir. Did you talk to her?"

"I suppose you could say that…"

"Well that's… that's great I guess. Are you going to see her again?"

"Son, that's not possible."

"Why not?"

"It was her funeral I attended last week."

Sting felt his heart sink.

If possible, he felt sorry for the master.

The famous Master Jiemma of Sabertooth…

Not being around for two weeks certainly had affected his outlook on his guild.

Jiemma wasn't… well, he was Jiemma anymore, which was for sure.

This master seemed softer than usual.

"The point is, I've changed. I know, I used to be terrifying to you all, and that's not going to change just yet," the master let out a chuckle, "but being at her funeral cleared my mind and reminded me that life isn't going to last forever, and I should start making decisions that matter more in my old age. I've decided to stop being such an overbearing pain in the ass to all of you. Seeing Allie for the last time… she never remarried. She even left something for me in her will. She never forgot me… but she lived a full life. She was never mad, never bitter about me, not blinded by power like I was. Seeing how she lived her life… I want to live mine the same way."

Sting thought that was the wisest thing he had heard in a long time.

"That's… that's great sir."

"Anyway… I don't want you to make the same mistake. I've conducted some research… the girl's name is Lucy, I presume?"

Sting stiffened. How had he found out?

"Sir, I... we're not together anymore."

"Oh." Jiemma paused.

Sting's expression hardened. He didn't want to talk about it. It was just too painful…

Changing the subject quickly, Sting said: "So why did you want to see me?"

"Right," the master cleared his throat, "I have heard that there is some strange activity going on right now near Harlem Valley in Magnolia. The council has detected an immense amount of magic in that area… they don't know what it is, and it is too dangerous to send out one of their own as they are not particularly specialised in this area of magic."

_Immense magical power?_ Sting wondered.

"I want you to investigate who or what is causing the large amounts of magic to be released. I'm doing this unauthorized by the magic council, so _stay hidden._ I have some… suspicion, to what this thing may be. But first, I need you to investigate for me. Will you do that?"

Sting's mind was reeling from too many questions. Why him? And what exactly was going on in Harlem Valley? And what did his master suspect?

"How did you even find this out?" questioned Sting suspiciously.

"Ah, you know I have my sources," stated the master with a small chuckle. "I don't want you to take it out; just find out what it is and come back alive, alright? Think of it as a compensation for all the weeks you've been gone from the guild."

Sting sighed. He did owe his master that, at least…

"Fine, I'll do it."

Sting turned to leave, and the master thought he heard a grumble or two about not wanting to go to Magnolia again, and something about trains being hell on earth anyway.

"And, Sting?"

"Yes, master?"

"Don't let anything, or anyone, get in the way of your happiness."

Sting continued walking out the door, and didn't answer. He wasn't entirely sure what to say about that.

* * *

Sting was walking home, hands in the pockets of his mint chinos, lost in thought.

Minerva had looked slightly crestfallen at the sight of him coming out of the master's office alive and well. Orga had just smirked and Rufus hadn't said anything.

"You're alive," pouted Minerva. "What did daddy want with you then, if he didn't want to kick you out?"

Sting had ignored her and walked out of the guild, not before landing a blow on an astonished Orga.

"What was that for?!" he had yelled.

Sting had walked out of the guild without another word.

_Don't let anything, or anyone, get in the way of your happiness._

Sting smiled coldly at the ground. Ironic wasn't it, that the master's advice had come just a day after everything had gotten in the way of his happiness.

He didn't want his happiness anymore, if it was going to be like this.

He was hurting deep down, but he didn't want to admit it, and he was tired.

Tired of having his hopes up, tired of seeing Lucy one step ahead of him again and again.

But was he tired of loving her?

A cold expression settled on Sting's features. He didn't want the answer to that, whether it was a yes or a no.

He kicked a stone on the pavement as he walked home. He heard a yelp as the stone hit someone.

He ignored it. He wasn't in the mood to apologise.

And to top it all, bloody Jiemma was making him go to Harlem Valley in freaking Magnolia to illegally investigate something for his own personal whim…

He wasn't even getting paid. Maybe he should've mentioned that to the master before agreeing…

Getting closer to his home, Sting sniffed the air again.

There it was; the familiar smell again.

Ignoring the small pang in his chest, he continued walking and tried to ignore the scent.

It was getting stronger.

Sting stopped in his tracks again. He looked around, wary. Was someone following him?

He heard hurried footsteps behind him, like someone was running towards him.

"Sting!"

Swiftly turning around, he felt someone crash into his chest.

He looked down and his eyes widened. He felt a familiar longing lodge in his heart, along with an urge to hit something.

Mixed emotions swirled inside of him. Part of him wanted to run, part of him wanted to kiss her right there and then. Another part of him itched to cause her the same pain she had caused him.

"Lucy?"


End file.
